Allons-y!
by AWill99
Summary: Twenty years. It's been twenty years since Krystal has been stranded on the planet Earth and after so many years of searching she's finally found the mad Doctor and his blue time traveling box. The question is though, why has she been searching for him all this time? And what's going to happen now that she has found him? DoctorxOC; Follow the show
1. Prologue

My eyes widened with excitement while goose bumps rose all over my body from the sight before me. I felt the area behind my eyes burn for a split second before my vision turned blue; well, to be precise, more of an electric blue color. The feelings of success and glee ran through my veins from finally finding the one thing that I've been searching for all these years. I pinched the skin of my wrist tightly for a few seconds before releasing it and grinning. I promise you that trying to cause myself pain isn't something I do regularly; it was just a precaution in case what I was seeing was actually a dream, since that has happened to me a few times in the past. Worse dreams ever.

_You're positive that this man will be willing to help me?_

_I can't answer that, Krystal. It's up to him. You'll just have to ask him nicely and cross your fingers. I wish you the best of luck._

I ran a hand through my blonde hair and shook my head lightly as I refocused on my discovery. "I've done it. I've finally done it. I've found you, Doctor!" I murmured under my breath.

I allowed my eyes to scan the blue box for a few more seconds before finally stepping towards it. I slowly brought up one of my hands to the disguised time machine and knocked lightly upon the blue wooden doors three times. I silently then moved back to my original position and waited for a response to my call. I moved both my hands behind my back and rose up and down on the balls of my feet for something to happen. I probably stood there for at least five minutes when I realized that no one was home. Let's just say I felt like an idiot. A small frown came onto my face when the shock of finding the Doctor began to wear off and my vision finally returned to normal.

"Really? After all this time of searching for him...he's not even here…" I said with an exasperated sigh. I face palmed my head a few times and growled through my clenched teeth.

All of a sudden the device on my wrist, my E.T.L. (stands for Extraterrestrial Locator), started to glow red and annoyingly beep nonstop at me. It was a high pitch noise that grew increasingly louder the longer I ignored it. I glanced down at the device and raised my eyebrows, tapping it a few times in hopes of making it stop. No such luck of course.

"This can't be right," I muttered under my breath. I tapped it more furiously but it just grew louder. "Why are you going off now when the Doctor isn't even home? Unless…"

_Now the last time I saw the Doctor, Krystal, he was kinda tall, broad, didn't have that much hair on his head, wore lots of dark clothing, and had these _humongous_ ears. Also, everywhere we went he always wore this black leather jacket. He never took it off. Never._

_Any particular reason as to why you're telling me this? You've already told me of his magic blue police box. It can't be that hard to find someone with one of those._

_I'm telling you this because' he's a Time Lord. Think, Krystal. A Time Lord has the power of regenerating. If he died at all since I've last seen him, he's a totally different man right now. The process is called Regeneration. His body heals itself and, if he has to, becomes a new person. The only thing he keeps is his memories._

_So you're saying that the man you just described to me may or may not be the man I'm looking for, correct?_

_Yeah…pretty much…_

"Oh," I breathed out. "It's like he said." I turned back to my E.T.L. and lifted my arm with the device on it up. "This must be the Regeneration energy that I was told about. The E.T.L. must be detecting it…which means that the Doctor is a new person. He must've Regenerated recently. Very recently from how strong these readings are." Slowly I started to spin clockwise in a three sixty rotation while keeping my one arm aloft. Nothing happened at first, but once I was facing to the left of how I started, the device on my wrist increased in volume and started to burn my skin. The grin that I had had on my face before came back and I immediately rushed towards my new destination in search of the mysterious Doctor.

* * *

**So...new story...what ya think? This is my first time I've written a Doctor Who story so this shall be interesting. Let me know your thoughts about the prologue and, also, feel free to correct me in anything I may get wrong, information for example. I try and do my research beforehand so I always know my facts, but sometimes I do mess them up since I am only Human.**

**P.S. In case you didn't figure it out, the centered italic writing is a conversation between her and someone else from the past. Any confusion, just let me know! **

**Also, this story will be starting with the Christmas Invasion. This book will, hopefully, be all seasons with 10 (if I can fit everything in) and, once I'm finished with it, the next book will be all seasons with 11.  
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	2. Chapter 1: Killer Christmas Tree

I finally arrived in front of someone's front door where my E.T.L. was beeping the loudest. I glanced down at the device for a moment and murmured, "Are you sure this is where the trail is leading? I mean, why would the Doctor be staying here when he could be in his TARDIS? It doesn't make sense…" The E.T.L. impatiently singed my skin, causing a loud yelp to escape from between my lips. "Alright, ALRIGHT! I get it. Sheesh. No need to start burning me!"

I rolled my shoulders a few times to get rid of the tension that was building up inside of me before bringing up a hand. I hesitated with my knuckles barely an inch away from the door for a split second before knocking upon it. I then only had to wait a few seconds before the door opened and an older looking woman with blonde hair stood before me. She was shorter than me so she had to crane her neck to look up and into my blue eyes. I grinned back in hopeful reassurance while she just crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hello, dear. Is there something you need?" she asked me, cocking an eyebrow as she did so.

I stuck a gloved hand out for her to shake, which she did after a few seconds of hesitation, and widened my grin. "Hello there, my name is Krystal. Merry Christmas, by the way." I released her hand and brought both of my arms behind my back. I inconspicuously started to tap my E.T.L. once again since this couldn't be right. Why would the Doctor be here of all places? And with a woman like this?! Please don't tell me he likes the older ones! I couldn't help but shudder at that thought.

"Just Krystal?" she asked me. "No last name?" She gave me a strange look when I then hissed through my teeth from my E.T.L. burning my skin.

"That's not really important now," I replied back. I flexed my fingers a bit behind my back when the stupid device on my wrist burned me again. I nervously moved from foot to foot at the thought of my E.T.L. being incorrect. I've had my E.T.L. since I was a child and not once has it been wrong…though I guess there is a first for everything. I just hope that I'm wrong instead because if my E.T.L. is the one at fault here this conversation is going to slowly turn awkward real fast. "I do have a very vital question for you though, Miss...?"

"Oh. Sorry, dear. My name is Jackie Tyler."

"Jackie," I began slowly. I glanced to each side before continuing in a softer voice. "Is the Doctor here?"

She blinked a few times up at me before asking, "Pardon?"

I tried not to sigh and roll my eyes at her in frustration. What didn't she understand? The Doctor part?! It was just a simple yes or no question. Now I really feel like a bloody idiot, probably look like one too. I crossed my arms, glad that my E.T.L. finally stopped its infernal beeping and burning, and locked eyes with the woman before me. "Is the Doctor here, Jackie?" I asked again, but even slower than before. I swear. Humans. They're so slow sometimes.

"Are you an alien?" she asked suddenly.

I blinked. Where did that just come from? "What?"

"One moment, dear," Jackie told me. She then looked over her shoulder and called, "Rose, sweetie, there's someone at the door for you!"

Rose? I opened my mouth to ask but Jackie had already spun on her heel and walked away. A moment later another girl, blonde like the first but much younger, stood before me. She inspected me for a few seconds before leaning against the door. My E.T.L. started up again and I quickly flicked it with my fingernail in hope of getting it to shut up. Of course it just kept going and the girl now in front of me curiously watched me fiddle with it.

Oh, my Goddess! Please don't let this girl be the new Regeneration of the Doctor. That would just be weird!

Rose crossed her arms and continued to stare at my E.T.L. "My mum mentioned you were asking about the Doctor. Is that true?"

"Are you the Doctor?" Better ask now and get the question out of the way.

The girl blinked at me. "No, I'm not. Why would you ask that?"

Great. Awkwardness. Exactly the one thing I was trying to avoid. "Um, well, because my E.T.L. here was starting to go off from you and I just figured that, since I am searching for the Doctor, you were him. Since you're not him though, you must have been very close to him when he recently Regenerated." And now I'm rambling…

"I'm sorry, who are you exactly?" she asked.

"My name is Krystal, and from what I've gathered you are Rose Tyler." She gave me another strange look so I quickly elaborated. "Your mum mentioned her last name was Tyler and that your name was Rose so I just put two and two together. It wasn't that hard to do."

"Krystal what?"

"It's just Krystal. Does it really matter?" Why did everyone ask what my last name was? "Now, may I please see the Doctor, Rose?" I pleaded.

"Um, yeah, sure, I guess. Just follow me, Krystal," she told me. She moved a little to the side and allowed me to enter her home before shutting the door. She then instantly walked forward and went through the first, and only, door on the left hand side of the hallway. I followed and found her standing over the only bed in the room.

Rose wasn't looking at me when I walked in but instead the unconscious man lying in the bed. Her arms were still crossed and she was biting her lip as she stared down at him. I glanced around the room for a few moments before asking her, "Is that him then? The Doctor?"

"Yeah. That's him." She looked back up at me and tucked some of her blonde hair behind her ear. The beeping from my E.T.L. increased in volume and speed but I ignored it as I took a step closer to her and the bed.

I cocked an eyebrow as I bent over and placed my palm on the Doctor's forehead. "The Doctor's…sick?" I asked after a few seconds. I pulled my hand back and realized how ironic that was for him.

"I guess that's one way you can look at it," Rose murmured.

The man who was supposed to help me was sick? Really? I did not waste twenty years searching for him and his blue box to come to learn he was sick.

"How long has he been passed out?"

"A few hours. Why exactly do you need his help?" she asked quietly.

"Personal reasons," I replied.

Rose looked like she wanted to ask more on the matter but instead just said, "My friend and I were actually just about to go out and shop for some Christmas presents. I'm not sure if you have anywhere to go or not, but I guess you can stay here with us until he awakens. It is Christmas after all."

I locked eyes with her green ones. "You wouldn't mind?"

Rose waved it off and walked back around the bed until she was by the door. "We've already got one alien in the house so I doubt two will be a bother."

"How…?" I began, but she left the room before I could.

Maybe Humans were smarter than I originally thought.

I lightly touched the jewel that was situated in the silver choker around my neck. "At least they're nice people," I murmured under my breath. I went down into a sitting position and leaned my back against the side of the bed that the Doctor was lying in. I rested my hands behind the back of my head and stared up at the ceiling in silence, well it was mostly silent except for the loud beeping still emitting from my E.T.L. I guess I should get it to stop since I did find the Doctor.

I brought my hands to my temples and rubbed them vigorously before beginning to mess with my stupid alien locator device. As I worked on silencing the dreadful thing, questions with no answers started to invade my head.

What if this man never woke up? What if he just forever stayed stuck in this coma state? Or worse, died? My search for the Doctor would just be a huge waste of time and I'd feel like a failure. I just wish to go back home, back to my time, even if I have no more family. I just want to make sure I'm not the last living one of my species left!

I growled under my breath and then cursed in French when I squeezed too hard on one of the dials of my E.T.L. and it went ahead and shocked me for the trouble. I gave an annoyed sigh and went back to the device after a few seconds of glaring at the thing.

_Are you sure you want to return, Krystal? It might break your heart to go home to your planet and see everything with your own eyes. Everyone gone…everything destroyed. I just don't want you to get hurt._

_I don't care. If they're really dead then I need to know. I have to see everything for myself before I can believe it, even if it eventually does kill me._

_Good luck then, Krystal. You'll need all that you can get._

_Yeah…I know._

I was brought out of my memories when I felt a tear slide down my cheek and land on my E.T.L. The device suddenly stopped beeping, almost as if knowing that I was in pain and misery, and I hurriedly wiped off the small drop of water from its surface and then from my own face. "There's got to be at least someone out there still alive. Anyone!" I whispered.

My head then snapped up towards the doorway when I heard Rose's voice call out, "Mum, Mickey and I are heading out now. We'll be back soon!"

"Stay safe!" her mum replied back.

Rose then passed by with some guy's hand in her own. As soon as he saw me, he froze and pulled Rose to a stop. The girl glanced back at him but then grinned a little when she saw why her friend had stopped. "Who's she?" he asked while pointing at me.

"My name's Krystal and-"

Before I could finish though, Rose said, "She's an alien who needs the Doctor's help. She's going to stay here until he finally wakes up."

I guess that pretty much sums me up.

"Oh," her friend said. He brought his eyes back from Rose and down to me. "I'm Mickey Smith. Nice to meet you, Krystal."

"Likewise," I said while nodding at him in acknowledgement. He gave me a quick smile before allowing Rose to drag him out of the house.

I closed my eyes as soon as they were gone and just started to listen to my surroundings. My head fell back onto the soft bed and I smiled as I began to enjoy the silence that surrounded me. When I was pretty much almost asleep, there was a light tapping on the door and I cracked open an eye to see Rose's mum standing in the doorway with a mug and a book. I blinked and rubbed my eyes as she entered the room.

"Here," she said as she handed both items over to me. "Just in case you're thirsty or bored. I hope you like the book. It's my daughter's. I can find another though if you want me to."

I placed the mug of tea down beside me on the floor and scanned the book. "_A Tale of Two Cities_?" I laughed. I quickly skimmed through the book before turning it back to the front cover.

"Would you like something else to read instead?" she asked.

"This is brilliant, Jackie!" I replied with a wide smile. My vision flashed electric blue for a moment before returning to normal. "I've always wanted to read this book but I've never had the time. Thank you very much!"

She smiled back down at me before retracing her steps and exiting the room. "And just let me know if you want more tea, dear," she told me, just before she was out of sight.

I laughed again, crossed my legs Indian style, and hurriedly began the book.

* * *

It was probably half an hour when the doorbell rang and I noticed Jackie walk by with a phone pressed against her ear through my eyelashes. "Hello? Who's there?" I heard her call out. When no one answered her call, I figured that it was probably just a few kids messing around and playing pranks. I heard the front door close then and saw Jackie walk by again.

I went back to the book in my hands but looked up again when Rose's mum then came into the room, still on the phone, with another mug of tea. "Oh, no, don't come 'round, darling," she told her friend on the phone. She walked by me and moved to the other side of the bed where she then placed the mug down. "No, the flat's all topsy-turvy. Yeah, she just barges in and litters the place. Yeah. No, I'll come 'round and see you on Boxing Day." Jackie gave me a small smile before returning to her conversation and leaving the room.

Almost as soon as she was gone, my E.T.L. started going haywire. I jumped to my feet in alarm and dropped my book, upsetting me greatly since I had no idea what page I was on. I hurriedly turned to the Doctor just in time to see golden particles escape from his lips. From how crazy my alien locator was growing, I took a small guess that the particles that came from his mouth were actually Regeneration energy.

I stepped towards the Doctor and slowly reached out a hand to touch the particles, but I instantly froze when the front door opened and I heard footsteps rush inside and Rose shouting, "Get off the phone! Get off the phone!" I pulled my hand back to my side and instead ran it through my blonde hair as I listened to the conversation happening in the other room.

"It's only Bev. She says hello," Rose's mum told her.

"Bev?" Rose asked. I took a guess that she must've taken the phone from her mum. "Yeah, look, it'll have to wait." There was then a beeping sound as she shut off the phone. "Right, it's not safe. We've got to get out. Where can we go?"

Now that caught my attention. I moved over to the door frame and leaned against it as I listened to the three of them talk. Something bad was happening and apparently Rose and her friend knew what it was. There was also the fact that my E.T.L. was still burning like hell from the Regeneration energy and wouldn't stop, meaning it was going to burn my wrist and I was going to have to explain a few things to the Tylers and Mickey.

"My mate Stan. He'll put us up," Mickey said.

"That's only two streets away," Rose told him. "What about Mo? Where's she living now?"

"I don't know. Peak District," her mum said.

"Oh, well, we'll go to Cousin Mo's, then," Rose said.

"Why do we have to leave though?" I murmured under my breath. My eyebrows scrunched together while I continued to listen to their conversation in the living room.

"Oh, it's Christmas Eve! We're not going anywhere!" Jackie exclaimed. "What are you babbling about?"

"Mum…," Rose started, but she then trailed off for some unknown reason. I glanced out of the room and noticed that she was staring over at the Christmas tree in the corner of the room in slight confusion. "Where'd you get that tree?" She pointed at it, still confused. "That's a new tree. Where'd you get it?"

"Well, I thought it was you," Jackie told her daughter.

"How can it be me?"

"Well, you went shopping, there was a ring at the door, and there it was," her mum explained.

"No, that wasn't me." By now, Rose was starting to sound scare so I knew that something wasn't right.

"Then who was it?" her mum asked.

I brought up my hand and walked towards the tree as Rose grabbed her mother's hand and pulled her beside her. The three of them stared at the tree as I pressed a few buttons on my alien locator, causing the screen to turn white. I quickly moved my hand up and around the tree as I allowed my E.T.L. to scan it for any alien activity.

At last I was finished with my scanning and my device quieted, but only for a few seconds. It immediately started back up again but more frantic than before. I gasped and quickly took a step back. "Dear Goddess, this is not good," I whispered with widened eyes. My vision turned a sonic yellow color and I automatically knew that I was beyond scared. I was terrified.

The lights on the tree turned on by themselves and I took a few more steps backwards. "Oh, you're kidding me," Rose said in disbelief. The song _Jingle Bells_ then started up as sections of the tree began to spin around, slowly lifting the tree off the floor. The tree began to make its way towards us and I heard Jackie screaming behind me.

"Christmas is supposed to be a holiday full of glee and laughter…not screaming," I gulped. I moved back even more when the tree started to break through the table that was on the floor.

"Get out! Let's go! Rose, get out!" Mickey shouted. Rose and Jackie instantly ran down the hall while I grabbed a chair and tossed it to Mickey. I then ran around him as well as he started to hold off the Christmas tree with the chair.

"We've got to save the Doctor!" Rose exclaimed. She stopped in the bedroom's doorframe and stared inside at the man on the bed. I stood behind her and glanced between her, her mother, and Mickey.

"Oi, what are you doing?" her mum asked.

"We can't just leave him," Rose argued.

"Just get inside the room already!" I shouted while pushing Rose into the room. "We don't have time to argue!"

"Oh! Mickey!" Jackie shouted frantically. She turned to the boy and indicated for him to come along with her arms. "Leave it! Get out! Get out!"

Rose poked her head into the hall. "Mickey!"

Mickey dropped the wooden chair and ran into the bedroom that Rose was in with the Doctor. "Leave him! Just leave him!" Jackie exclaimed to them when she saw Rose near the Doctor's bed.

"Get in here!" Mickey told us.

"Hurry!" I shouted at her, pushing her inside like I did to her daughter earlier. I glanced over at the tree one last time before running into the room myself. Mickey immediately slammed the door as soon as I entered and ran over to help Jackie move a wardrobe in front of the door. My E.T.L. was still burning my wrist as I went and helped the two of them with the wardrobe. "Killer Christmas trees. That's new," I muttered under my breath as I started to push the heavy wooden furniture.

"Doctor, wake up!" Rose shouted at the unconscious man. I rolled my eyes but continued to help shove the wardrobe in front of the door. The three of us then leaned against the wardrobe as Rose ran to one of the coats hanging on the wall and pulled out some sort of gadget. It took me a few seconds for it to register, but I realized that it was the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, another thing that my dear friend told me about the Doctor.

"What is she doing?" I muttered as she placed the sonic screwdriver in the Doctor's hand. The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air and face planted with the carpet. "Bloody hell that hurt!" I groaned. I rolled onto my backside and stared up at the door as the tree burst into the room.

"I'm gonna get killed by a Christmas tree!" Jackie whimpered as she huddled against the wall. I scrambled back from the tree and ended up with my back pressed against the bed. Great.

"Help me," I heard Rose say, presumably to the Doctor.

The next second a loud pulsing filled the room and the tree burst into bits and flames. A piece of the tree flew by and scratched my cheek but besides that I wasn't hurt. Slowly I brought my head up and stared at the hand that was holding the sonic screwdriver and pointing at where the tree once stood.

"Remote control," I heard a deep male voice say…and it definitely wasn't Mickey's. "But who's controlling it?" The arm then moved out of sight as legs came down and crashed against my head. I groaned from the pain and held the spot where I was kicked as the person who kicked me got to his feet.

I pulled my hand away from my new bruise and stared up at the Doctor, alive and kicking. My vision was back to normal as well. He looked down at me in surprise and paused in putting on the dressing gown that he had grabbed from the wall hook

"Hello," I told him weakly, wiggling my fingers in greeting.

"Um, hello," he said uncertainly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Krystal," I answered as I stood to my feet. I hurriedly covered my cheek when I felt the skin begin to heal itself already. I weakly grinned up at him.

"She told me that she needs your help with something," Rose quickly said. "Some personal reasons."

"It can wait of course!" I added. "This seems more important than my petty problems!"

The Doctor continued to stare at me in a calculating manner before grinning back down at me. Whoa. He had an amazing smile. I'm swooning just looking at it. "Hello, Krystal! I'm the Doctor, though you probably already knew that." That serious look from before then came back onto his face and he hurriedly exited the room. Rose instantly followed him and her mum and friend trailed after her.

I waited until they were all gone before removing my hand from my face. I glanced at my reflection using the only mirror in the room and saw that my cut was gone and my face looked as if it had never been hurt. I lightly touched the skin as I sighed at how close that had been to the Doctor and others seeing my unnatural power. My dreadful curse. I stood there for another split second before following the others.

As soon as I was outside with the others, I heard Mickey say, "That's them." The four of them were all looking over the railing at something that was down on the street below. I stayed where I was and leaned against the pillar as I watched them all. "What are they?" Mickey then asked as he leaned over the railing to look down at them. Rose quickly shushed him.

The Doctor raised his hand with the sonic screwdriver and pointed it down at whatever they were staring at. I moved around the pillar and looked down below to see three things in Santa outfits and masks. The one in front had some sort of controller in its hands. As soon as the Santa imposters saw the Doctor's screwdriver, each one took a few steps back away from the building before a blue light teleported them up above. The Doctor's and my eyes followed the light until it disappeared.

"They've just gone," Mickey said. He scoffed. "What kind of rubbish were they?" Mickey then turned to the Doctor and added, "I mean, no offense, but they're not much cop if a sonic screwdriver's gonna scare them off."

"Pilot Fish," the Doctor said.

We all turned our heads to stare at him. "What?" Rose asked while taking a small step towards him.

"They were just Pilot Fish," the Doctor elaborated.

A second later he grunted and fell back against the wall, letting out a loud groan from whatever pain he was feeling as he did so. "What's happened? What's wrong?" Rose asked as she, her mum, and friend all gathered around the gasping man.

"You woke me up too soon," he explained to her. He started to pant before continuing. "I'm still Regenerating. I'm bursting with energy." And to prove his point, he opened his mouth wide and allowed a ton of golden Regeneration energy particles to expel from his mouth and into the air. I crossed my arms over my chest and blinked at how much came from his mouth. My E.T.L. started to beep once again but I barely paid it any attention, though I did notice that the Doctor quickly glanced over at me when it started to go off. Could he actually hear it? That would be impressive if he could since not many people can. "You see?" the Doctor asked the others, returning his attention back to them. "The Pilot Fish could smell it a million miles away. So they eliminate the defense, that's you lot, and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of year-!"

The Doctor yelled the last word he said as another wave of pain overtook his body. "Ohh!" He fell forward again and this time ended up by my legs. I stared down at him in surprise.

Jackie knelt down in front of him and gripped him as she went, "Oh! Oh! Oh!" from the shock of what was happening.

The Doctor clenched his teeth together and moaned, "Aah! My head!" I had no idea what to do to help comfort him so I just awkwardly reached out a hand and patted his head like a dog. I admit his hair was pretty soft though...focus, Krystal! "Ohh, I'm having a neuron implosion. I need-"

"What do you need?" Jackie asked him desperately.

"I need-" he started to say again.

"Just say it. Tell me. Tell me," Jackie interrupted once more.

"I need-"

"Tell me. Painkillers?"

"I need-"

"Do you need aspirin?" Jackie asked.

"I need-"

"Codeine? Paracetamol? Oh, I don't know, Pepto-Bismol?" Jackie asked. My eyes continued to dart between the two of them. Was she never going to let him finish his sentence? Goddess!

"I need-"

"Liquid Paraffin, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E?"

"I need-"

"Is it food? Something simple - bowl of soup? A nice bowl of soup? A soup and a sandwich? Oh, soup and a little ham sandwich?" Wowsers, she can just keep going on and on, can't she?

"I need you to shut up," the Doctor finally gasped out.

Jackie looked over at Mickey and said, "Oh, he hasn't changed that much, has he?"

The Doctor groaned once more and I quickly pulled my hand away from the top of his head as he flung his body back to the wall that he was leaning against earlier. "Aah!" The Tylers and Mickey instantly surrounded him again with frightened looks on their faces. "We haven't got much time," he told us. "If there's Pilot Fish, then-"

He suddenly broke off midsentence and reached into his dressing gown, pulling out an apple. "Is that an apple?" I asked puzzled.

"Apparently so," he answered me whilst studying the fruit in his hand. "Why is there an apple in my dressing gown?" he asked the others.

"Oh, that's Howard. Sorry. Sorry," Jackie told him.

"He keeps apples in his dressing gown?" the Doctor and I asked in unison. We both looked at Rose's mum with confused faces.

"He gets hungry," Jackie explained.

Wait, what?

The Doctor looked back down at the apple and then up at Jackie. "What? He gets hungry in his sleep?"

"Sometimes."

"Aah!" the Doctor groaned. He slid down the wall until he was basically lying upon the ground. "Aah! Aah! Brain…collapsing." He gasped in pain for a moment before turning to Rose and continuing. "Aah! Aah! The p-pilot fish…the pilot fish mean…that something…something…"

By this time, the Doctor was breathing heavily as he tried to force the words out of his mouth. I had already figured out though what he was exactly trying to tell Rose so I was able to finish his final words along with him.

"Something is coming."

The Doctor then passed out, causing the three Humans around him to gasp in surprise. I just turned away from them and stared up at the starry night sky as my E.T.L. continued to beep and burn my skin.

Our troubles were far from over.

* * *

**And there we go! Chapter #1! Whoo! What cha think so far? The story sound good yet? Interesting? Brilliant? Comment and let me know your thoughts!**


	3. Chapter 2: Blood Control

"Alright-y, you lot." I turned back around and faced the three humans as they began to lift the Doctor up onto his feet so they could take him back inside. "Does anyone here have a computer or laptop or something of the sort?"

"I've got a laptop back at my flat," Mickey told me.

"Good. Go and get it then," I told him. I gently pushed him towards the direction of the staircase, since we were on the second floor, and took his spot beside the Doctor. Together, Rose and I heaved the Doctor up and wrapped his arms around our necks.

"Why do we need it though?" Mickey asked in confusion.

Without looking back at him, I explained, "Because you heard what the Doctor said about Pilot Fish. Look the word up on a computer and you'll understand. I promise you." Rose and I then started to slowly walk together towards her and her mum's flat with Jackie following along behind us. A moment later I heard the sound of metal clanging as Mickey ran down the steps.

Rose and I took the Doctor back to the bedroom that he had been in earlier and placed him back in the bed. I noticed that there was sweat already forming on the Time Lord's head so I looked over to Rose to let her know, but she was too busy staring down at the Doctor with a strange look in her eye. I inwardly sighed and exited the room to find a washcloth by myself.

When I returned to the bedroom with a wet rag, Rose finally looked up at me as I stepped closer to the bed. As I went to dab the cloth against the Doctor's head, Rose reached out and snatched the cloth from my hand, surprising me and causing me to jump back in pure shock. I blinked at her as she instead went and began to dab at the Doctor's forehead.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I just thought that I'd do it since I know him better and all."

I bit my lip from saying something to her about that. For one, in life or death situations, does it really matter who helps? Complete stranger or not, I probably know more about medical situations and whatnot better than her. Actually, I probably know a lot more things compared to her. And two, if she really did know, and possibly, cared more for him than I did, why was I the one who went and got the wet cloth? I didn't see her move to help him.

Oh yeah. My vision was already starting to turn slightly red. I was angry with her.

I stood there and watched Rose wet the Doctor's forehead with my arms crossed and my eyes slightly narrowed down at her. She ignored me of course which was good since I wasn't sure how I would've reacted had she tried to continue to talk with me. I never took too well to selfish people. After a few minutes, the front door opened and closed and I felt a presence walk behind me and stop. I already knew that it was Mickey, so I spun on my heel and walked out of the room and past him. I saw the look on his face as he stared at Rose when I passed by. Was that a bit of jealousy?

"Hello, Jackie," I told the woman while pulling out a chair to sit in. She nodded at me from the small opening that led to the kitchen as I then yelled, "Let's go, Mickey! We haven't got all bloody day!" and took a seat in the chair.

"I'm comin'," I heard Mickey mutter as he came into the living room. He took his laptop from underneath his arm and placed it on the desk by me. "Jackie, I'm using the phone line. Is that alright?" Mickey asked Jackie as he opened his laptop and started to plug it in.

Jackie looked up at us before back down to the mugs of tea she had in her hands. "Yeah, keep account of it," she told him. Mickey took a seat beside me and started up his laptop. I tiredly watched him begin to log in as Jackie then placed two mugs in front of us. "It's midnight…Christmas Day," she said. She sounded a bit surprised as if the day went by too fast. Rose then entered the room and took a seat on the couch's armrest. Her mom handed the remaining mug to her daughter and asked, "Any change?"

Rose accepted the mug and held it between her hands. "He's worse. Just one heart beating," she told her mum. Rose blew on her drink before taking a sip. I barely paid her any attention as I forced my eyes to dart between Mickey's laptop and the television which was showing the news. When I heard the man giving the news mention something about the planet Mars though, I kept my eyes glued on the screen.

"Scientists in charge of Britain's mission to Mars have re-established contact with the Guinevere One space probe," the newsman said. "They're expecting the first transmission from the planet's surface in the next few minutes."

Jackie took a seat beside Rose as the three of us continued to watch the television. The screen changed from the newsman to some other guy who was being interviewed by tons of Media. There were words at the bottom of the screen that showed his name was Daniel Llewellyn and he was the Guinevere Project Manager. I turned my chair a bit, with my mug of tea now in my hands, and intently listened to this project manager.

"Yes, we are!" Daniel told the Press after being asked some question. "We're – We're back on schedule. We've received the signal from Guinevere One. The Mars landing would seem to be an unqualified success."

"But it is true that you completely lost contact tonight?" someone from the Media asked him.

"Guinevere seemed to fall off the scope, but it – it – it was just a blip – o-only disappeared for a few seconds. She's fine now. Absolutely fine. We're getting the first pictures transmitted live any minute now. I'd better get back to it. Thanks."

Daniel started to leave the stand when someone else from the Press called out to him, causing Daniel to pause and look back at the person. "But, Mr. Llewellyn!" Daniel glanced over at whoever shouted towards him before leaving the area.

"I don't like the sound of this," I muttered under my breath.

"Why's that?" Rose asked.

I didn't respond as Mickey went, "Here we go – pilot fish!" I turned back to Mickey's laptop screen and took a sip of tea. I gazed at the animated fish video he had on his screen. Rose got up from her seat and moved so she was standing behind Mickey. She placed her own mug down on the table and stared at the screen along with us. "They're scavengers, like the Doctor said. Harmless – they're tiny. But the – the point is, the little fish swim alongside the big fish."

"Do you mean like sharks?" Rose asked him.

"Great big sharks," Mickey told her. "So, what the Doctor means is, we had them – now we get that." And as if to emphasize his point, a huge shark appeared and showed off its huge teeth.

"Something is coming," I told them, causing Mickey and Rose to glance over at me. I ignored their looks when I heard the man from earlier appearing back on screen. I turned my chair again and faced the television as Daniel spoke to the Media.

"…see the classic Martian landscape of rocks and dust-," Daniel said, but was cut off when the screen started to become all static-y. I placed my mug down on the table before walking over to the television. I knelt down to the floor and started to gently tap the sides of it.

"How close?" Rose asked.

"There's no way of telling," Mickey answered. "But the pilot fish don't swim far from their daddy."

"What the bloody hell is this?" I murmured. The screen was still showing some static, but behind all the static some of the video footage from Mars was showing through. I couldn't tell what the footage was, but I could tell that whatever it was spelled out bad news.

"So it's close?" Rose asked.

"Funny sort of rocks," Jackie said aloud.

"That's not rocks," I told her.

"This is being transmitted via mission control and it's coming from the depths of space on Christmas morning," Daniel said as the static on the television slowly started to disappear, turning the movie footage clear.

I slammed my palm against the television once more before leaning back on my hands. I glanced behind me and saw Jackie, Rose, and Mickey now leaning over me as the three of them watched the image grow clear. A loud roar suddenly rang from the television and I quickly looked back at the screen as the three Humans behind me jumped slightly in surprise.

"What was that?!" Jackie exclaimed.

"What was what?!" I shouted. Really? I missed it? When no one decided to answer me, I grabbed the screen and started to shake it in anger. "Show the bloody footage again!" When the television decided to ignore me (of course) I growled deep in my throat and rubbed my temples. "I'll be back," I told them while jumping to my feet. I left the living room and walked into the bedroom that the Doctor was in.

I moved towards the bed and pulled off one of my white gloves as I did so. Somewhere on the floor lay the book that I had been reading earlier, now totally forgotten. I stopped once I was as close to the Doctor as I could possibly get without getting onto the bed with him. I did lean against it though as I moved the palm of my hand towards his forehead. I paused when my fingers were literally inches away from his skin.

Should I?

"No," I sighed. "I shouldn't." I pulled my glove back on and instead pushed back some of the Doctor's hair so I could readjust his wet cloth since it was slipping slightly.

"Krystal, you may want to come and see this!" I heard Rose exclaim.

"I wonder what all the fuss could be about now," I said to myself.

I quickly ran out of the bedroom and looked over Mickey's shoulder alongside Rose. On Mickey's laptop screen were four aliens staring at the screen. I placed a hand on Mickey's shoulder and leaned closer to the screen with wide eyes. One of them must've been the alien that was on the telly earlier that I unfortunately missed. I bit my lip in frustration when I realized that I recognized the species but couldn't remember for the life of me what they were called.

"I've seen these guys before but, bloody hell, I can't remember their name!" I mumbled under my breath.

"_Gatz tak ka thaa! Ka zu me fedock, ka zu me Sycorax_!" the one down in front said.

"That's their name!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Sycorax!" I then thought about what I knew of the species and grimaced. We are so screwed…

"Have you seen them before?" Mickey asked Rose.

"No," she replied.

Both of them then looked up at me in question. I sighed. "I know of them, but that's pretty much it. Be happy that I remembered their name." My E.T.L. angrily burned my wrist since I just lied a little bit through my teeth. What was I supposed to tell them though? That there was no hope left and everyone on the planet would either become a slave or die? I couldn't do that to them. Besides, everyone'll probably find out soon enough.

"_Adzeek. Kwadra fi peloodza. Kwadra fi milzon bor zu pedra kayi…zu bandak. Zu masak jal ban kulja jiyi sykora jak_," the first finished.

In unison, all four of them went and exclaimed, "_Di-ga gah! Di-ga gah!_"

"I don't understand what they're saying," Rose said confused. The laptop screen beeped as the window full of aliens closed. I pulled away from Mickey's shoulder and gazed over towards the direction of the Doctor's bedroom. I noticed that Jackie was looking the same way as me and was biting her lip in thought. "The TARDIS translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am."

I snapped my head back over to her with widened eyes. "I didn't know it could translate languages!"

Rose nodded. "Every language that you can imagine it can translate. It can even translate writing for you."

"So, why isn't it doing it now?" Mickey asked her.

"I don't know – must be the Doctor…like he's part of the circuit, and he's…" Rose hesitated but then realization overtook her facial features. "He's broken."

"And you, Krystal?" Mickey asked me.

"Me what?"

"Can't you understand them? The Sycorax? You're an alien, right?"

I frowned down at him and glared daggers, causing him to flinch slightly. My vision started to turn a deep blood red color as I kept my narrowed eyes on him. "Just because I'm an alien doesn't mean I can understand every bloody language in the universe like that." For emphasis I snapped my fingers to help prove my point. "Just like with any language, you need to learn and study it. Pardon me for not studying this one though; I didn't know there was going to be a test."

"I'm sorry?" Mickey asked confused.

"You better be," I snapped back at him. "You basically insulted me. It's like me asking for you to speak French or German since you'll all Humans to me!" Somewhere in the background, the television was showing the news and had some woman talking about how the NATO forces were on red alert, probably from the alien video we just saw. Jackie rushed by me and into the Doctor's bedroom. I rubbed at my face and then pinched the bridge of my nose to calm myself down. Without a word to the two beside me, I trailed along after Jackie and entered the bedroom.

I found Rose's mum kneeling on the floor beside the bed. She was leaning onto the bed as she gazed down at the Doctor with a motherly look. I instantly calmed down and walked forward until I was standing beside her. Jackie didn't even jump when I silently placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort.

"Oh, come on, sweetheart," she told the Doctor. The only response that he gave back was the sound of his ragged breathing. "What do you need? What is it you need? Tell me." After a few moments of nothing but the Doctor's breathing, Jackie looked up at me with a sad frown. "What do we do now?"

I sat down on the edge of the bed next to the Doctor's legs and gently squeezed Jackie's shoulder. I gave her a soft smile but my eyes gazed at the Doctor's troubled sleeping face. "The only thing we can do, Jackie," I murmured. "We wait."

* * *

It had been a few hours and Jackie had her head lying on the Doctor's bed, using her arms as a pillow as she slept. I had been dozing off and on throughout the night, and somehow I must've slid off the bed since my back was now leaning against the bedside. I went to open my eyes, since sunlight was starting to peek in through the curtain, but paused when I heard Rose's voice coming from the doorway. I kept my eyes closed and quietly listened to the blonde speak.

"The Doctor wouldn't do this – the old Doctor, the proper Doctor. He'd wake up. He's save us," she said.

"You really love him, don't you?" Mickey then asked.

I finally decided to crack my eyes open and look up at the two of them. Mickey had Rose wrapped in his arms while her head was placed on top of his shoulder. Since he was facing me, Mickey saw me before Rose, but he didn't say anything.

I slowly stood to my feet and crossed my arms. "I'm quite disappointed in you, Rose."

Said girl pulled out of her friend's hug and turned to look over at me. "What are you talking about?" she asked puzzled.

I gestured towards the Doctor as I said, "The faith you have in him is horrible."

She frowned at me and I spotted a few tears glistening in the corners of her eyes. "Watch your mouth, Krystal. You don't know what you're talking about."

I frowned back. "No, Rose. You're the one who has no idea what you're talking about. When I came to Earth twenty years ago, I met this amazing man. He told me he knew this guy who went by the name of the Doctor and that the Doctor could maybe help me with my problem," I told her. "For six years he and I stayed together. We became best friends. We were so similar, and yet so different. And throughout those six years, he told me all he knew about the Doctor."

"How could he know so much about the Doctor?" Rose asked in slight disbelief.

"Because he once travelled with the Doctor," I explained. A soft smile came onto my mug as my best friend's face appeared in my mind. It had been fourteen years since I last saw him. I hope he's doing well. "Anyway, Rose, my point is, I know a lot of things about the Doctor that you could never dream of. One of these things being the fact that this sick man lying in bed is indeed, and always will be, the Doctor. Or the proper Doctor as you put it. He might look different, he may act different, but no matter what Regeneration he is in, the Doctor will always be the Doctor."

Rose looked like she wanted to say something back, but she stopped herself when we heard a woman's frantic voice in front of the flat. She and Mickey shared a quick look before they dashed towards the door. Rose yanked it open and together she and Mickey stepped outside. I sighed, gave one last glance towards Jackie and the Doctor, before following after them.

"What is wrong with you?!" the woman outside exclaimed to the man beside her. He ignored her as he continued to walk. He seemed as if he were in a trance from what I could read from his facial expression. "Jason? Jason?"

"Sandra." The woman turned and looked over at Rose who had spoken. I pushed past all three of them and moved so I was just ahead of the man known as Jason.

"He won't listen," Sandra told Rose and Mickey. "He's just walking. He won't stop walking. There's this sort of light thing. Jason, stop it."

Sandra started to trail along behind us as I pressed a few buttons on my E.T.L. and scanned Jason's body for alien activity while I walked alongside him. When my alien locator started to beep in warning, different methods of alien control flashed through my mind. There are so many ways of controlling people during my time, but which ones would've been around today and could control mere humans?

"Oh, I know," I mumbled. I grabbed Jason's hand as we started to walk down the steps, earning a strange look from Sandra who was still trying to get him to stop walking. I moved my wrist a bit until my E.T.L. was touching his pale skin. I then pressed a button on my E.T.L. and waited a moment before releasing Jason's hand.

"What did you do?" Sandra asked. She grew more worried when she saw the small prick in Jason's hand and the blood that was coming out of it. "What did you do to Jason?!"

I grinned at her and scanned the screen of my alien locator. "Blood sample. No worries." Before she could continue to question me, I darted ahead of her and Jason, down the steps, and to the crowd of people who were walking in a trance down the street and towards the apartment's roof.

"Where are you going, Krystal?" Rose shouted to me. I looked up at her with a wide smile and found her leaning over the railing, giving me a surprised look.

"Just need a few more samples!" I shouted back. Rose and Mickey shared a similar look before both rushed after the people of the building who were heading towards the roof. I grabbed at least five other people, two of them being children, and pricked all of their hands.

After I got my last sample, I pushed past everyone and ran back to the Tyler's home. When I ran into the living room, I found Jackie in the kitchen tiredly making a few mugs of tea. "Hello, dearie," she told me. "Would you like a cup?"

"No, thank you, Jackie," I responded. "But I have a serious question."

"Ask ahead then."

"May I get a quick sample of your blood?"

She blinked at me and I'm actually quite surprised that she didn't drop the mug in her hand from shock. "Why?"

"Please just trust me, Jackie," I begged her. "It'll only take a second. I have a theory but I need to make sure I'm correct about it before I tell you all!"

Rose's mum hesitated, but she held out her hand for me in the end which I gladly accepted. I gave her an encouraging smile as I pressed the button on my E.T.L. that I had been pressing for the past five minutes. Jackie flinched from the slight prick, but she didn't say anything about it.

"Is that all you need?" she asked me after I pulled away from her. She pressed two of her fingers against the prick in her hand to try to stop the bleeding.

I nodded. "Yes, Jackie. Thank you very much. All I need is one more sample and I can let you all know if I'm correct."

"What's your theory so far then?" Jackie asked me.

"I think the Sycorax are using blood control, but I'm not entirely sure. I'm going to need one more sample before I will definitely know. I'm just gonna have to wait here until Rose and Mickey get back."

"Why can't you use your own blood as a sample?" she asked.

I sat down on the couch as I continued to look through everyone's blood sample that I took. The first six that I took were all A-Positive while Jackie's was not. "It's complicated," I told her. "If the Sycorax are using blood control, then the blood they have would have to be human's."

"So you are alien?"

"Like I just said, Jackie. It's complicated. Very hard to explain," I answered.

"But you aren't human though," she stated.

I ran a hand through my hair as the front door burst open and Rose and Mickey ran into the room. "Not entirely, Jackie."

"You would not believe what's happening outside to everyone!" Mickey exclaimed to Jackie. Without a word, Rose went straight to the television and turned it on for any news updates. I stood up from the couch, grabbed Mickey's hand, and took a blood sample from him. He yelped from the pain and rubbed his hand as soon as I pulled away from him. "What was that for?"

"Like I already told you two," I said. "Blood samples. Trust me."

"Krystal believes that the people out there are being controlled by the aliens by blood control," Jackie explained.

"Look at the telly everyone," Rose told us quietly. I flopped back down on the couch while Jackie and Mickey moved over beside Rose and watched the television along with her. I kept the screen in my vision using the corner of my eye as I waited for my E.T.L. to bring up Mickey's blood sample.

"Who's that?" I asked them all. There was a woman on screen sitting at a desk with her hands folded on top of the desk that she sat at. Two Great Britain flags stood on either side of her and a picture of the Queen of England sat on the desk. She looked quite serious with the expression she wore on her face as well as the outfit she had on.

"It's Harriet Jones. She's our Prime Minister," Jackie explained.

"How do you not know that?" Mickey asked.

"I just came to England a few months ago," I told him. "I don't exactly pay much attention to what all is happening around here."

"I met her once before," Rose explained. "She helped the Doctor and I save the planet from the Slitheen."

We all then quieted down when Harriet started to speak. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I may take a moment during this terrible time. It' hardly the Queen's speech. I'm afraid that's been cancelled." Harriet looked off to the side and asked, "Did we ask about the royal family?" She remained silent for a moment as she received her answer to her question. Her frown deepened after getting it and she said, "Oh." Harriet's head turned back to the camera as she continued. "They're on the roof."

I turned back to my E.T.L. and noticed that Mickey's blood finally came up. Just like Jackie, he did not have A-Positive blood. "I was right," I told them. "It's blood control."

"But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say it might get much worse. I would ask you all to remain calm. But I have one request – Doctor…if you're out there…we need you. I don't know what to do. If you can hear me, Doctor – if anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him – the situation has never been more desperate." As the Prime Minister spoke, Rose quietly left the room and headed towards the Doctor's bedroom. "Help us. Please, Doctor, help us. God help us." The emergency broadcast then disappeared and Mickey turned on the television. Jackie hurried after her daughter when Rose's crying echoed out to us.

Mickey and I awkwardly looked at each other as we heard Rose say, "He's gone! The Doctor's gone. He – he left me, Mum. He left me, Mum."

"It's alright," Jackie told her daughter. "I'm sorry."

The glass behind me then shattered and I dropped to the floor covering my head while everyone screamed from the shock. I locked eyes with Mickey one last time before he ran out of the room. I saw the front door open while Jackie and Rose called my name in concern.

"Don't worry; I'm fine!" I told them. I army crawled over to them and didn't stand up until I was right next to both Tylers.

"What was that?" Jackie asked.

"Sonic wave," I explained. "From the Sycorax's ship. It must've just hit the atmosphere."

Rose pulled out of her mum's arms and ran out the door after Mickey. Jackie soon after followed. I sighed and decided to trail along. Outside, and down on the street, the Tylers along with Mickey, and several other Humans nearby, were all staring up at the giant spaceship that was looming over top of us all. The ship was decent sized. I've seen much bigger though.

As soon as the spacecraft stopped moving, Rose frowned and ran back towards the stairs. Mickey ran after her leaving Jackie and me no choice but to follow them. Once we all were back inside, Rose said, "Mickey, we're gonna carry him." She entered the bedroom that the Doctor was lying in and pulled the covers right off his body. Mickey followed her into the room and I leaned against the doorframe with crossed arms. "Mum, get your stuff and get some food. We're going."

"Well, where to?" Mickey asked. Jackie squeezed by me and into the room with a surprised look.

"The TARDIS," Rose explained as she and started to pull the blue dressing gown onto Doctor. "It's the only safe place on Earth."

"What are we gonna do in there?" Jackie asked her daughter.

"Hide," Rose replied back. Both of my eyebrows shot up at how eager Rose was to the idea of hiding. I figured that she was stronger and braver than that.

"You're kidding me," I told her.

"Is that it?" Jackie demanded.

"Mum, look in the sky. There's a great big alien invasion and I don't know what to do, alright?" she said. "I've travelled with him and I've seen all that stuff, but when I'm stuck at home, I'm useless. Now, all we can do is run and hide and I'm sorry. Now, move." As soon as Jackie then left the room, Rose looked back up and stared at me. "And, Krystal, I don't want to hear a word from you. So far you've been a great help, but unless you can figure out what our next move is, stay out of the way. Come on, Mickey!" she told us. Mickey glanced at me before rushing forward to help Rose get the Doctor out of bed. I huffed with annoyance and spun on my heel. I stormed out of the Tyler's home and rushed down the steps and to the TARDIS.

I leaned against the blue wooden time machine's doors for a few minutes until Rose and Mickey finally appeared carrying the Doctor. Jackie came after them and I quickly rushed forward to help her after she dropped some of the bags that she was carrying. She thanked me and together we walked into the TARDIS after Rose and Mickey.

I blinked around in surprise at the size of the inside of the TARDIS. I had been warned that it was bigger on the inside, but I had no idea that it was this big! "Just look at the size of this place! Oh Goddess, what a beaut she is!"

"No chance you could fly this thing?" Mickey asked Rose as he and she carried the Doctor farther into the TARDIS. "Not anymore, no," Rose told him.

"Well, you did it before."

"I know, but it's sorta been…wiped out of my head, like it's forbidden," she explained. Jackie and I placed the bags down on the floor off to the side while the two of them placed the Doctor down as well in the same fashion. I kinda felt slightly bad for him. "If I try it again, I think the universe rips in half."

"Ah, better not, then," Mickey stated.

"Maybe not," Rose said as she leaned against the TARDIS's console.

"So, what do we do – just sit here?" Mickey asked frustrated.

"That's as good as it gets," Rose told him.

"Right, here we go – nice cup of tea," Jackie said. I looked back over from Rose towards her and saw her with a thermos in her hands. I couldn't help but smile. Even in a crisis, the Brits have their tea with them.

Apparently Rose thought the same thing. "Mm, the solution to everything," Rose muttered.

"Now, stop your moaning," Jackie angrily told her. "I'll get the rest of the food." She handed Mickey the black thermos and ran out of the time machine.

I sat down on the floor beside the Doctor and carefully placed his head in my lap so he could at least be in a little bit of comfort. "Tea," Mickey said. "Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end, which is very British." I snorted in laughter while I kept myself occupied by brushing the Doctor's hair back and out of his eyes. Seeing though that Mickey wasn't getting the response he wanted out of Rose, he turned to the television screen and asked, "How does this thing work? 'Cause if it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there." Mickey placed the thermos and its lid off to the side as he started to mess with the console screen. "Maybe we've surrendered. And what do you do to it?"

Rose moved over beside him. "I don't know. It sort of tunes itself." She pressed a few buttons, making a beeping sound, and pulled back.

A few minutes later, I was still on the floor and Mickey was still trying to figure out how to work the television screen. "Maybe it's a distress signal," I suggested.

Rose looked bored with her elbow on the console and her chin relaxing on top of her palm. "Fat lot of good that's gonna do."

"Are you gonna be a misery all the time?" Mickey demanded.

"Yes," she told him point-blank.

"You should look at it from my point of view – stuck in here with your mum's cooking," Mickey stated.

"Where is she?" Rose suddenly asked.

Mickey shrugged while I placed the Doctor's head back on the floor and rose to my feet. I brought my arms above my head to stretch out my back and jokingly said, "I hope she didn't get lost."

"I'd better give her a hand. It might start raining missiles out there." Rose maneuvered around the console, the Doctor, and me and walked over to the TARDIS's doors.

"Tell her anything from a tin – that's fine," Mickey quickly shouted over at Rose. He grabbed the thermos and started to walk around the TARDIS's console and over to all the bags on the floor.

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" Rose asked.

"I'm not that brave," Mickey said with a grin. I chuckled and leaned against the console with crossed arms.

Rose looked back over at Mickey when she was right in front of the doors. "Oh, I don't know." She then smiled as she opened the doors and started to step out.

Not even a second after she left the TARDIS, we heard her let off a loud scream. Mickey dropped the thermos, spilling the tea, and rushed towards the door. I stayed behind since I figured someone had to look after the unconscious Time Lord. "Rose?!" he shouted with worry.

"Get off!" Rose exclaimed. "Get off me!" I watched through the still opened TARDIS doors as she got dragged along by one of the Sycorax. I groaned at the realization that we were in the alien's spaceship. Mickey rushed after Rose when she suddenly shouted back at him, "The door – close the door!" Mickey and I immediately rushed towards the doors and together shut them, him pushing while I pulled.

With the doors closed now, I couldn't see anything whatsoever that was happening outside of the TARDIS, but I was able to hear everything.

"Get off!" Rose shouted.

"Leave her alone!" Mickey exclaimed.

I pressed my ear against the door and strained to hear what was all going on outside of the doors.

"_Yas vil_!" one of the Sycorax yelled.

"Rose. Oh! Oh! Rose," I heard the voice of Harriet Jones say. How the bloody hell did she get aboard the ship?! There was then what sounded like a bit of scrambling before Harriet told Rose, "I've got you! My lord. Oh, my precious thing. The Doctor – is he with you?"

"No," Rose replied. My eyes widened at that. Yes the Doctor was passed out on the floor, but he was here with us. Why did she say so otherwise? "We're on our own."

Behind me I suddenly heard a bit of electricity crackling and I spun around and saw a bit of steam wafting out of the grated floor. I didn't think much of it at first, but then my E.T.L. started going haywire as Regeneration energy spilled from the Doctor's lips. My eyes widened, but I stayed where I was when I heard the Sycorax from earlier start to speak again.

"_Vos koonik del panja zu krimit tak saya. Vol…kufa zu prendis_," he said.

There was then another voice who spoke and I realized that he was translating the alien language. "'The yellow girl – she has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet.'" I grimaced at the idea of Rose speaking on the act of Earth, knowing instantly that we were all doomed.

"But she can't," Harriet said.

"Yeah, I can," Rose told her.

"Don't you dare," Mickey warned her.

"Someone's got to be the Doctor." At Rose's words, I couldn't help but look back at the Time Lord. Even though he had had Regeneration particles come out of his mouth, he was still passed out on the floor. I shook my head and pressed my ear against the door again.

"They'll kill you," Harriet told her.

"Never stopped him," Rose said. There were a few seconds hesitation, where I heard crowds of Sycorax cheering somewhere in the ship, before Rose started to speak on behalf of Earth. This ought to be good. "I-I, um…I address the Sycorax...um…according to Article 15…of the Shadow Proclamation." I blinked. She knew Article 15? "I command you to leave this world…with all the authority of the Slitheen Parliament of Raxacoricofallapatorius and, um…the Gelth Confederacy…as, uh…sanctioned by the mighty Jagrafess and, ooh, the – the Daleks." I shuddered at the name of the Daleks. I've never seen one, and hopefully never will, but I've heard much about them. "Now, leave this planet in peace! In peace. Mm."

I hit my head against the TARDIS's doors as all of the Sycorax started to laugh at Rose. "You started off good, Rose, but then you just went all downhill from there…," I muttered.

"_Zug an gan frak jil ay_," the Sycorax, my guess the chief/leader, told her.

Translator boy then translated, "'You are very, very funny.'"

"_Zug an chak chifuki!"_

"'And now you're going to die.'"

At Translator boy's words, Harriet shrieked, "Leave her alone!"

"Don't touch her!" Mickey shouted.

"Leave her alone!" Harriet exclaimed again.

"_Zu gas gil fayna…"_ the chief began.

Translator boy started to translate the Sycorax's words as the alien spoke. "'Did you think you were clever…with your stolen words?'"

"_Gora ve Sycorax!_"

"'We are the Sycorax. We stride the darkness,'" Translator boy said. He continued as the chief started to speak again. "'Next to us, you are but a wailing child. If you are the best your planet can offer as a champion…'"

"Then your world will be gutted…and your people enslaved," the chief finished in English along with Translator boy. I gasped in shock at the words that had come out of the chief's mouth.

"Hold on," Translator boy said. "That's English."

"He's talking English!" Harriet exclaimed in disbelief.

"You're talking English," Rose told the Sycorax.

"What the bloody hell?" I mumbled.

"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile!" the Sycorax told them all.

"That's English. Can you hear English?" Rose asked.

"Yeah," the other Humans told her.

"Yeah, that's English," Mickey agreed.

"Definitely English," Translator boy told her.

"I speak only Sycoraxic!"

"If I can hear English…," Rose began. "Then it's being translated…which means it's working, which means…," she trailed off at the same time that I felt a hand wrap itself around my shoulder. I froze and slowly looked up into the brown eyes of the Doctor.

"How?" I asked confused. "What finally woke you up, Doctor?"

The only reply I received from him was a smile and a wink before he then, with one arm still wrapped around my shoulders mind you, opened the TARDIS's doors. Outside of the police box's doors, Rose and Mickey wore faces identical to mine.

The Doctor just grinned at everyone and asked, "Did you miss me?"


	4. Chapter 3: Earth's Champion

The Sycorax chief roared and flung the electrified whip that he held towards us. I closed my eyes and turned my head to the side as I waited for the quick death that was to come from the horrible whip. When death didn't come though, I cracked open one of my eyes and peeked over at the Doctor in surprise since he held the whip in one of his hands. He pulled his arm from around my shoulder and walked forward towards the chief Sycorax with a frown.

"You could have someone's eye out with that," he told the alien in a serious voice.

"How dare-," the Sycorax started to say while lifting up his staff. The Doctor took the staff from the chief's hands and snapped it over his right knee. I couldn't help but smile at the mad Time Lord's actions that would surely get him killed if he wasn't careful.

After the Doctor threw the broken staff off to the side (almost hitting me, mind you), he turned back to the Sycorax and said, "You just can't get the staff." I glared at him for almost smacking me with a staff as he then continued. "Now, _you_ just wait," he told the Sycorax. "I'm busy." The Sycorax chief gaped at the Doctor in surprise as the Time Lord pointed a finger at him and gave him a stern look before turning to Rose and Mickey with a wide smile. "Mickey, hello!" He then turned to Harriet and added, "And Harriet Jones, M.P. for Flydale North. Blimey! It's like _This is Your Life_."

I scratched the back of my head, lost for words. What the bloody hell was he going on about?!

The Doctor spun back to Rose and Mickey, though I saw his eyes dart between the two of them and me. "Tea! That's all I needed – good cup of tea – a superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin – just the thing for healing the synapses." He then suddenly turned serious and locked eyes with Rose. "Now, first things first – be honest…how do I look?"

"Um…different," Rose told him.

"Good different or bad different?" the Time Lord asked her.

Good different….of course I didn't express my thoughts aloud though.

"Just different," Rose replied.

"Am I…ginger?" he asked.

What?

Rose looked up at the Doctor's hair. "No, you're just sort of brown," she said as she brought a hand up to her own hair.

"Oh, I wanted to be ginger. I've never been ginger," the Doctor whined. He turned his back and walked a few steps away from Rose and Mickey. He then suddenly spun back on his heel and pointed a finger at Rose. "And you, Rose Tyler – fat lot of good you were! You gave up on me. Ooh, that's rude. Is that the sort of man I am now – am I rude? Rude and not ginger."

"You've got to be kidding me. The planet Earth is at risk and yet you're pouting about not being ginger? What the bloody hell is wrong with you?!" I exclaimed as I threw my hands up in the air in disbelief.

"Well, I've never been ginger before and it upsets me greatly," the Doctor explained to me.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. He's so serious…

"How is being not ginger even important right now?" I demanded. I marched up to him and looked up into his brown eyes.

"It's important to me," he told me.

"You. Are. Impossible." With each word I stabbed his chest with my finger.

The Doctor grinned and grabbed my hand in mid-stab. "Why, thank you. It's Krystal, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry," Harriet said. The Doctor and I both glanced over at her. "Who is this?" she asked looking at the Doctor. She then looked at me. "And who are you?"

I ripped my hand out of the Doctor's grip and waved my fingers at her. "Hello, Miss Jones. My name's Krystal." Harriet nodded back at me in acknowledgment.

"And I'm the Doctor," the Time Lord told her.

"He's the Doctor," Rose said.

"Well, what happened to my Doctor, or is it a title that's just passed on?" Harriet asked confused.

I'm going to take a guess that Harriet Jones must've met the Doctor while he was in a different Regeneration. Maybe even the Doctor's last one.

The Doctor walked around me and over towards Harriet. "I'm him. I'm literally him. Same man, new face – well, new everything," he explained to her with a grin.

"But you can't be," Harriet said. She acted like what he was telling her was impossible. Did she not see the alien spaceship that we were in?

"Harriet Jones…we were trapped in Downing Street, and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens, wasn't the war – it was the thought of your mother being on her own," he said to her.

"Oh, my God."

"Did you win the election?" The Doctor leaned forward towards her slightly with interested eyes and his hands stuffed in his dress robe's pockets.

Harriet grinned back at him and said in a giddy voice, "Landslide majority."

"If I might interrupt," the Sycorax chief said loudly, and quite rudely may I add.

The Doctor turned and faced the Sycorax and moved both of his hands behind his back. "Yes, sorry. Hello, big fella."

"Who exactly are _you_?" the Sycorax chief demanded.

"Well, that's the question."

"I demand to know who you are!" the chief roared.

The Doctor imitated the Sycorax's loud roaring voice and exclaimed, "I don't know!" He then changed back to his normal voice, which sounded like a combination between a Scottish accent and a British one, and continued. "See, that's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I-I just don't know." He stuffed his hands back in his pockets with a thoughtful expression on his face. "I literally do not know who I am."

"Oh Goddess help me," I muttered under my breath as he spoke. "I'm asking for the aid of a man who has no idea who he is."

"It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" At the word sexy, the Time Lord winked at Rose, who in return smiled, and clicked his tongue. I rolled my eyes at how he was flirting during an alien invasion. "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed, left-handed? A gambler, a fighter, a coward, a traitor? A liar, a nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence I've certainly got a gob."

"Is there a point to all your rambling?" I asked him. I'm not sure about him, but I was fairly certain that it was impossible to defeat an invasion of Sycorax by just talking their ears off. Correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

I was ignored as the Doctor gazed up the steps that he was now standing beside and saw something that caught his interest. He looked back over at the chief with a wide smile. "And how am I gonna react when I see this-" His smile grew as he pointed up the steps. "A great big threatening button?" The Time Lord started to laugh as he then ran up the stairs and to the button that he was talking about. The Sycorax chief, a few of his guards, and the four Humans ran after him. I followed as well but at a slower pace. "A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances – am I right? Let me guess – it's some sort of control matrix, hmm? Hold on. What's feeding it?" He bent down and opened the panels which held what was feeding the control matrix. "And what have we got here?"

"It's blood," I called up to him as he stuck one of his fingers in the liquid.

The Doctor brought up his finger to his mouth and tasted the blood. After a moment he said, "You're right, Krystal. Definitely blood, human blood – A-Positive, with just a dash of iron. Ah." He grimaced, stuck his tongue out to rid it of the awful taste, and wiped off the rest of the blood onto his blue dressing gown. "But that means…"

"Blood control," I told him with a smirk.

The Doctor grinned and repeated me, but with more enthusiasm. "Blood control! Oh! I haven't seen blood control for years! You're controlling all the A-Positives. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem…," the Time Lord said, clicking his tongue in disappointment. "'Cause I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So if I see a great big threatening button, which should never, ever, ever be pressed, then I just want to do this," and he slammed his hand down onto the huge orange button.

"No!" all the Humans shouted at him. I just laughed. I couldn't help it. I knew what blood control could and couldn't do, I just never really told Rose, Mickey, or Jackie since it didn't really seem important at the time, especially since I thought we were all going to die anyway.

"You killed them!" Translator Boy exclaimed. Man, I really need to learn his name.

The Doctor looked over at the chief and asked, "What do you think, big fella – are they dead? Obviously Krystal already knows the answer from the way she was laughing."

"We've allowed them to live," the Sycorax chief told him.

"'Allow?'" the Doctor repeated with a large grin. "You've no choice. See, that's all blood control is – a cheap bit of voodoo," he explained to the others while scratching his ear. Everyone's eyes followed the Doctor as he started to walk around. "It scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis. You can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis. You can't hypnotize them to death. The survival instinct's too strong."

"Blood control was just one form of conquest," the chief told him. "I can summon the Armada and take this world by force."

"Well, yeah, you could. Yeah, you could do that. Of course you could, but why?" the Time Lord asked him. He gestured out to the four Humans. "Look at these people, these Human Beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and, blinking, step into the sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than – no, hold on." The Doctor broke off and looked down at the floor for a few seconds in thought. "Sorry," he then said after a moment. "That's _The Lion King_."

I ran a hand through my blonde hair and rolled my eyes while chuckling at him. Oh Goddess, what an idiot.

The Doctor moved away from the rock that he was leaning against and over to the side. "But the point still stands. Leave them alone."

"Or what?" the chief asked back.

"Or…" The Doctor grabbed a sword from the closest guard and ran by the chief and back down the steps until he was standing in front of his TARDIS. He lifted the sword he held in the air and exclaimed, "I challenge you!" Every Sycorax in the ship started to laugh together in unison at the Time Lord's words. I worriedly bit my lip. The Doctor gazed out at the hundreds of Sycorax that were standing all around us. "Oh, that struck a chord. Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?" he asked the chief.

The Sycorax chief walked down the stairs and pulled out his own blade. "You stand as this world's champion."

"Thank you," the Doctor stated as he took off the dressing gown he wore. "I've no idea who I am, but you've just summed me up." He then tossed his dressing gown over to me once it was off of him. I snatched it from the air and draped it over my arm with raised eyebrows. "So…do you accept my challenge?" he asked the Sycorax chief. "Or are you just a _cranak pel casacree salvak_?"

The chief angrily hissed at the Doctor while the rest of the Sycoraxs cheered as he and the Time Lord raised their weapons in the air. The two of them then bent down onto one knee while locking eyes with the other. "For the planet?" the Sycorax chief asked.

"For the planet," the Doctor agreed.

Both rose back to their feet and stared the other down for a few seconds. Nobody moved nor spoke, except for the Sycoraxs who were still cheering. Finally the Doctor made the first move and lunged at the Sycorax chief with his sword with a grunt. The Sycorax chief brought up his own sword and deflected the Doctor's attack. The swords clanged as they clashed together and then the Sycorax chief took a cheap shot and pushed the Doctor away from him. The chief laughed at the Doctor as he stumbled back. The Time Lord glanced over at Rose, Mickey, and me before returning his attention back to the chief. The two of them then grunted as they rushed the other and both swords clanged once more.

"I didn't know the Doctor could fight. How long do you believe this is going to take?" I whispered to Rose while keeping the corner of my eye on the fighting Doctor and Sycorax chief.

Rose didn't even look at me as she whispered back, "I have no idea, Krystal."

Mickey leaned in and joined in on our conversation. "I just hope he doesn't lose, is all."

Suddenly Rose reached out towards the Doctor and shouted, "Look out!"

I turned to the Doctor who was on the ground, dodging the Sycorax chief's sword. He jumped to his feet and sarcastically said back at Rose, "Oh, yeah, that helps. I wouldn't have thought of that otherwise. Thanks," and he swung his sword at the chief again. The fighting continued between them until the Sycorax chief went and pushed the Doctor back again. The Doctor stumbled away again but then pushed his way up the steps. "Bit of fresh air?" he asked. He continued to run forward and then pressed a button that was on the wall. The rest of us followed as the Doctor ran out into the open air.

Once outside, we all found the Sycorax chief and the Doctor already clashing swords. The two fought and nothing major happened at first, but then the Sycorax chief brought his sword upwards and crashed it against the Doctor's face. "Aah!" the Doctor went, bringing up a hand to press against where he had been hit on the nose. Rose started to move forward to either help or just to make sure the Time Lord was alright, but the Doctor quickly moved his hand from his face towards her in warning. "Stay back!" he told her. The Sycorax chief turned around and looked over at Rose to make sure she hadn't tried and interfered. "Invalidate the challenge, and he wins the planet." He then brought his hand back to his nose and rubbed at the pain. The chief spun back around with a roar and the Doctor ran towards him shouting, "Aaaaah!" They met in the middle and clashed swords.

The two stayed together with their swords pressed against the other's. Slowly the swords traveled from being held above their heads to being situated between their chests as they stared the other one in the eye. The Sycorax chief pulled back from the Doctor before charging once again. They then clashed their swords together a few more times until the Sycorax suddenly brought the Doctor to the ground using his sword.

"Oh! Aah!" the Time Lord said as the Sycorax banged his sword against the Doctor's head again. "Ugh!" The Doctor fell backwards onto his back with his head and hands hanging over the edge of the ground. The Sycorax chief hurriedly moved forward and brought his sword down on the Doctor's hand, cutting it off from the rest of his body and causing it and the sword it still held to fall to the planet below.

"Wow," I murmured. Rose had her hand in front of her mouth in shock while Mickey looked a little sick. Harriet and Translator Boy looked fine though. I'm guessing they must've seen worse.

The Doctor looked over at his hand in mild surprise and then up at the Sycorax chief who still loomed over him. "You cut my hand off," he told the chief.

"Jah! Sycorax!" the chief shouted triumphantly, bringing both hands up to the air in success.

The Doctor slowly rose up to his feet as the chief turned his back on him. "And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky…'cause, quite by chance, I'm still within the first 15 hours of my Regeneration Cycle, which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy to do this." I cocked my head to the side as he brought up his arm that was now missing a hand for everyone to see. A gasp escaped my lips as his hand then grew back from the stump. I couldn't help but touch my healed cheek that had gotten cut by the Christmas tree earlier while he wiggled his fingers a bit once he had a hand.

"Witchcraft," the Sycorax chief said.

"Time Lord," the Doctor corrected.

Rose turned to the guard who stood beside her and unsheathed his sword. "Doctor!" The Doctor turned his head towards her at the sound of his name and caught the sword that she threw at him.

"Oh, so I'm still the Doctor, then?" he asked amused.

"No arguments from me!" Rose shouted back with a smile.

The Doctor began to swing his sword around, showing off his new hand. "You want to know the best bit?" he asked the chief. "This new hand - ," he started. He then gained a Texan accent and a cocky grin. "It's a fightin' hand!"

The Doctor grunted as he lunged forward and swung his sword at the Sycorax chief, who barely had time to block. Once again the two of them fought one another until the Doctor finally got his advantage. He yanked the Sycorax chief's sword from the alien's grip and then bashed the base of the sword into the Sycorax's stomach, eliciting a grunt from the chief. The Doctor repeated the action and the Sycorax grunted again but louder. With clenched teeth, the Time Lord knocked the Sycorax chief to the ground so he was lying in the same position that the Doctor had been in earlier.

The Doctor pointed the blade of his sword at the Sycorax's throat. "I win."

"Then kill me," the chief told him between his pants for breath.

"I'll spare your life if you'll take this champion's command – leave this planet and never return. What do you say?"

"Yes," the chief agreed.

"Never trust a Sycorax," I murmured under my breath.

The Doctor pressed his sword closer to the Sycorax's neck. "Swear on the blood of your species."

The Sycorax chief hesitated before agreeing in a strained voice. "I swear."

"There we are, then. Thanks for that," the Doctor said as he casually turned back around as if nothing had happened. "Cheers, big fella."

"Bravo!" Harriet cheered after the Doctor put his sword into the ground. She clapped as the Time Lord walked towards us with a smile.

"That says it all – bravo!" Rose cheered along with a wide smile. She looked as if she wanted to run to the Doctor, but she stayed put when she saw that I had already started to move towards him.

"Yeah," he agreed with Rose. "Not bad for a man in his jim-jams. Very Arthur Dent. Now, there was a nice man."

I felt Rose's eyes on me as I walked forward towards the Doctor. "Be careful, Doctor," I warned him as I helped him put on the dressing gown. "Like my uncle always used to say, 'Never trust a Sycorax.'"

"Oh, stop thinking so negatively, Krystal," he told me with a grin one he had the dressing gown on. He brought his hand up and ruffled my hair with a strange twinkle in his eye. I frowned at him and immediately fixed my hair after he took his hand off. He chuckled as I ran my hand through my blonde hair and straightened whatever hair he had messed up before putting his hands in his pocket. His eyebrows scrunched together and he looked down at his one pocket with confusion. "Hold on. What have I got in here?"

"What is it?" I asked him with crossed arms.

He pulled his hand out of his pocket and held some strange orange fruit in his hand. "A satsuma," he told me, tossing the fruit in the air and catching it with the same hand. "Ah, that friend of Rose's mother's – he does like his snacks, doesn't he?" He and I started our walk back over to the others. The Doctor continued to toss and catch his orange fruit. "But doesn't that just sum up Christmas? You go through all those presents, and right at the end, tucked away at the bottom, there's always one stupid old satsuma. Who wants a satsuma?" I barely paid much attention to the Doctor once he started to ramble. I just kept nodding my head at appropriate parts.

"Doctor!" Rose suddenly shouted as roaring came from behind us.

Just as I looked back at the Sycorax chief with wide eyes, the Doctor tossed his satsuma at the button on the wall by the door. The Sycorax chief screamed as the ground opened up beneath him causing him to fall to his death. I hurriedly turned and looked back at the others as the Doctor said, "No second chances. I'm that sort of a man."

I followed after the Doctor as he led all of us back inside. I moved over to the TARDIS and leaned casually against it as the Doctor turned to all the Sycorax in the room and began to speak. "By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time. And when you go back to the stars and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of its riches…its people…its potential…when you talk of the Earth…then make sure that you tell them this – it…is…defended." The sound of energy pulsing then echoed around us as blue lights enveloped us non-Sycorax and returned us to Earth.

"Where are we?" Rose asked.

"We're just off Bloxham Road," Mickey explained. "We're just 'round the corner." He then started to laugh and jump up and down with his hands in the air. "We did it!"

The Doctor held a hand out towards the overexcited boy. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute," he told him as we all continued to watch the ship overhead. The ship sailed through the air and up towards space, not once firing upon and causing any harm to Earth.

The Time Lord grinned as Mickey shouted, "Go on, my son! Oh, yeah!"

Rose jumped onto Mickey's back with her own smile as she shouted along with him in excitement. "Yeah! Don't come back!"

"It is defended!" Mickey yelled.

I shook my head at the giddiness that the two of them shared while they hugged the other as I walked over to stand with everyone. I was just glad that we actually survived. I nudged the Doctor with my elbow and murmured, "Told ya so, Doctor. My uncle never lied. 'Never trust a Sycorax'."

"And what a wonderful uncle you have, Krystal," he told me.

"Had, Doctor. He's been dead for some time now," I explained.

The Doctor placed a hand on my shoulder and looked down at me with a sad frown. "I'm sorry, Krystal. Truly I am."

I waved it off as Rose ran over to Translator Boy and hugged him with a loud "Yeah!" "It's been twenty years, Doctor. I've gotten over it. Besides, it's not your fault," I told him. "No worries."

The Doctor squeezed my shoulder in a comforting gesture before walking over to Harriet Jones with his hands stuffed in his dressing gown's pockets. I stared down at my shoulder where the Doctor's hand had just been. "My Doctor," I heard Harriet say.

"Prime Minister," the Doctor said back to her. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the two of them raise their arms and engulf the other in a tight hug.

"Absolutely the same man," Harriet told him with a smile. The two of them then walked forward until the Doctor was standing beside me again. Harriet pointed up at the retreating spaceship and asked, "Are there many more out there?"

The Doctor breathed in deeply. "Ooh, not just Sycorax – hundreds of species, thousands of them." He brought his hand back up and placed it once again on my shoulder with a small smile. "And the Human race is drawing attention to itself. Every day, you're sending out probes and messages and signals. This planet's so noisy. You're getting noticed…more and more." He looked down from the sky and at Harriet. "You'd better get used to it."

"Rose!" Jackie shouted, suddenly coming into view.

"Mum!" Rose yelled back with a wide smile. She started running towards her mum with her arms opened wide.

"Oh. Talking of trouble," the Doctor said. I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing.

"Oh, my God!" Jackie yelled in relief. "Rose!"

"We did it, Mum!" The two of them met in the middle and hugged. I smiled at the sight.

"Oh! Oh!" Jackie said as Translator Boy's cellphone went off.

"You did it, too!" Rose exclaimed to her mum. "It was the tea – fixed his head," she explained.

The Doctor walked over towards them with his hands in his pocket. "That was all I needed – cup of tea."

"I said so," Jackie told her daughter. The two of them started to walk over in our direction with Mickey trailing along after them with a smile.

"And look at him," Rose stated, gesturing towards the Doctor.

"Is it him, though? Is it really the Doctor?" Rose's mum asked. The three of them stopped walking. They placed their arms around each other and stared at the Doctor. The Time Lord went and stared back at them.

"Well, this is just awkward," I muttered. "They're all just staring…"

After a moment Jackie exclaimed, "Oh, my God, it's the bleedin' Prime Minister!"

"Come here, you," the Doctor told her with a wide grin.

"Oh!" Jackie and the others rushed towards the Doctor who had his hands waiting for a hug. Jackie returned the hug followed by Rose and Mickey hugging her and the Doctor as well in a giant group one. "Oh, oh! Are you better?" she asked him.

"I am, yeah," the Time Lord replied, pulling away after a moment. The Doctor then walked back over to me with a charming smile. "Come here, Krystal! You deserve one too!" and he engulfed me in a breathless hug. My eyes widened in surprise at the feeling of his arms around my body. It had been years since I had had an actual hug. It felt quite nice…

"Thank you, Doctor," I murmured, closing my eyes and wrapping my arms around him. I clenched at his dressing gown tightly when he chuckled with his mouth by my ear.

"It's a message from Torchwood," Translator Boy told Harriet. "They say they're ready." The Doctor and I broke apart and looked over at the two of them, him still with his wide, contagious smile. After a moment, the Time Lord went back over to the Tylers and Mickey. I though kept my eyes glued on the Prime Minister and Translator Boy. I didn't like the way Translator Boy said those words.

"Tell them to fire," Harriet told Translator Boy, her voice breaking as she did so.

"Fire?" I questioned with furrowed eyebrows. "At what? At whom?"

"Fire at will." Translator Boy walked off to the side so he could use his communicator in private.

"What does he mean 'Fire at will'?" I demanded in an angry voice. "What the bloody hell are you doing?!"

Harriet didn't answer me when five green lights in different locations suddenly shot into the air, all aimed at the same spot. The lights combined and then shot up into the sky. A moment later an explosion sounded from the sky and pieces of the Sycorax spaceship dispersed through the air. My vision instantly turned red as I grew extremely angry.

Rose gasped. "What is that? What's happening?" She, her mum, and Mickey gazed up at where the spaceship had exploded. The Doctor looked back down from the sky and frowned over at Harriet and Translator Boy. Harriet stared back at the Doctor and me with unwavering eyes.

"That was murder," the Doctor angrily told her.

"That was _defense_," Harriet answered calmly.

"Oh no, Harriet Jones, the Doctor's right," I growled through clenched teeth. "That was definitely murder. And here I thought Humans were better than this. Shame on you!" I glared at her. I was so mad that I even thought about taking out my contacts just so I could show her my red eyes and how angry I was.

Harriet glanced away for a second before returning her gaze to us. "It's adapted from alien technology – a ship that fell to Earth 10 years ago."

"But they were leaving!" the Doctor told her.

"You said so yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time – you come and go. It happened today – Mr. Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me, while you were sleeping. In which case, we have to defend ourselves."

"Britain's Golden Age," the Doctor said.

"It comes with a price," she replied.

"No matter what you do, Harriet Jones, Earth will always be targeted by aliens. Trust me. There's nothing you can do to stop them from coming either," I told her. I was a prime example, even if my landing here was but a mistake, and so was the Doctor. Was this Torchwood going to blow me up as well?

"I gave them the wrong warning. I should have told them to run as fast as they can – run and hide, because the monsters are coming – the Human race," the Doctor told her.

"Those are the people I represent," Harriet said, beginning to turn just as angry as the Doctor and me. "I did it on their behalf."

"And I should have stopped you," the Doctor said.

"I as well," I said with narrowed eyes.

"What does that make you, Doctor, Krystal – another alien threat?" Harriet asked.

"Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones," the Doctor stated as he marched forward towards her. "'Cause I'm a completely new man!"

"Don't challenge me either," I warned her. "You have no idea who I am and what I'm capable of."

"I could bring down your government with a single word," the Time Lord said.

"You're the most remarkable man I've ever met, but I don't think you're quite capable of that," Harriet told him.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed slightly more. "No, you're right – not a single word…just six."

"I don't think so."

"Six words."

"Stop it."

"Six."

The Doctor and Harriet stared at the other for couple of moments, which was slightly funny since the Doctor was at least a good few inches taller than her. Finally he calmly walked around her and over to Translator Boy. He took Translator Boy's earpiece from his ear and placed it in the Human's hand. With his eyes still on Harriet he said something to Translator Boy, soft enough that none of us were able to hear what he exactly said. The Time Lord then walked around Translator Boy and back over to the rest of us, giving Harriet Jones a hard look as he passed by her. The Tylers, Mickey, and I trailed behind him as he started to walk in the direction of the Tyler residence.

Behind us Harriet scrambled over to Translator Boy and asked, "What did he say?"

"Oh, well, nothing, really. He-"

"What did he say?!"

"I-I – nothing. I don't know."

"Doctor! Doctor, what did you -, " Harriet exclaimed towards us as we walked away. "What was – what did he say? What did you say, Doctor? Doctor!"

I turned around and glared over at her as I started to walk backwards with my hands stuffed in my pockets. "Does it really matter what the Doctor said?" I called over to her. She stared back over at me. I stopped walking and continued when I knew that I had her attention. "Aliens of all shapes and sizes are going to come to Earth," I told her. "Some will be looking for nothing but peace while others will want to perhaps destroy you. In the end though, I promise you that great things will come from these aliens. My species is a perfect example. Trust me, Miss Jones." I continued to stare at her, and she back, before I felt a hand on my shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye I saw it was the Doctor.

With no words having to be said, I allowed the Doctor to turn me around and move his arm so it was hooked with mine. Together we walked to the waiting Tylers and Mickey who were watching us. Once we were with the rest of the group, Rose quietly asked, "What did you mean by what you said to Harriet Jones? About your species?"

I locked eyes with her. "Forget I said anything, Rose." She hesitated but nodded and followed after her mum and friend towards the direction of her home. The Doctor still had his arm hooked through mine as we followed after the three Humans. I looked up at the Time Lord and gave him a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "So what's it like being Earth's champion, Doctor?" The frown that had been on the Time Lord's face instantly disappeared as he laughed loudly. I grinned back and gently nudged him. "That's what I thought you'd say."

* * *

**Please comment and tell me your thoughts. Next chapter will be the last of this episode and then the following one should be the beginning of _New Earth_, which is one of my favorite episodes from season 2. **

**What are your favorite episodes from Season 2? Mine are _New Earth_, (of course) _School Reunion_, _The Girl in the Fireplace_, and _Satan's Pit_.**


	5. Chapter 4: Story of My Life

"So this is what the inside of your TARDIS looks like," I said amazed. It was about supper time, almost twelve hours after the Sycorax predicament. At the current moment I was in the TARDIS with the Doctor while Rose, her mum, and Mickey got Christmas supper ready. I was going to stay and help out, since their home was still a mess from the shattered glass and all, but the Doctor had asked if I would come with him to his blue police box so we could talk.

"Yep," he told me popping the 'p'.

Wow.

"Where are you going?" I asked him when he started to walk off. "I thought you brought me here to talk?"

"I did." He turned around and grinned while pulling at the red scarf that was around his neck which had been given to him by Rose. "I just wish to change into some decent clothes first." I nodded and went to take a seat on the jump seat when he continued. "Aren't you coming?"

I paused and gave the Doctor raised eyebrows. "Why? I don't need any clothes. I've got loads of outfits back in my ship."

"Oh, come and pick something out that you like," he said, motioning with his head for me to follow.

"I couldn't. I wouldn't want to impose upon you. I don't need any more clothes."

"Think of it as a welcome aboard present then, Krystal," he told me.

"Wait, what?" I asked puzzled. "You mean…?"

The Doctor just turned around with that mysterious smile of his and walked off. I quickly scrambled after him calling his name loudly.

I finally found the Time Lord five minutes later looking through loads and loads of clothes. He grinned at me and held a brightly colored polka dotted button up shirt in front of his body. "What do you think?"

I blinked. "It makes you look like a clown…an ugly clown."

The Doctor looked down at the shirt for a few seconds. "It looks that bad, huh?"

I snatched the shirt from his hand and threw it behind me. I'd put it in the trash later when he wasn't looking. "That is the type of shirt that should never be in anyone's closet. Ever, Doctor." The Doctor went to continue looking through his clothes but I quickly turned him back around. "Doctor…what do you need to exactly talk to me about?"

The Time Lord locked his brown eyes with my blue ones. "Would you like to come with me, Krystal, and become my companion?"

"What about Rose?" I asked him. "I'm not exactly sure what she would think if I came along and joined the two of you. I mean, all I want is your help. Assistance, really."

"Oh, the more the merrier!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Are you sure it's a good idea?"

"Of course it is! You and Rose are going to get along great! Well, that is, if she decides to stay as one of my companions too."

All I wanted was the Doctor's help…yet it looks as if I may get to come aboard and help him as well.

"I-I guess if you really want me to come I can," I answered uncertainly. If Rose stayed as the Doctor's companion, would she and I actually become friends? Or would I just be some third wheel? Goddess I hope I'm making the right decision.

"That's the spirit, Krysty!" he exclaimed while ruffling my hair. "Ooh. I like that. Krysty."

"Krysty?" I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"It's your new nickname. Like it?" he asked while pulling out some black leather pants. He inspected the trousers for a few moments before tossing it over his shoulder with a shake of his head.

I continued to watch as the Doctor kept grabbing clothes and casually throwing them over his shoulder. I really hoped he was going to clean up his mess later. "No, I do not like it. My name is Krystal, not Krysty."

He seemed to ignore me since he grabbed a whole bunch of clothes and pushed them into my hands. "Go try these on in the room over there," he told me while pointing at the room he was referring to by the staircase. "And don't even think about coming out of there until you've picked something out." He gave me a stern look, reminding me of my father, but ruined it with the smile that appeared on his face a moment later.

I sighed. "And where are you going to be changing, Doctor?"

"Right here," he said. "Now go find an outfit."

I walked over to the room that the Doctor was referring to, grabbing more clothes from the racks along the way. I fumbled with the door's knob before finally getting the bloody thing open and then stepped inside while dropping all the clothes I had onto the floor. Using my foot, I closed the door shut.

"Guess I better hurry and find something I like," I murmured. "I wouldn't want to upset the great and might Doctor." I carefully picked up the grey shirt that was on top, held it up against my chest, and inspected myself in the mirror. With a frown I tossed it back on the floor before picking up the next shirt.

* * *

"There. This looks good." I stared at myself with a small smile as I pulled at my jacket's lapels. "Correction: I look good." I had found a short sleeve white button up shirt that I thought just looked utterly adorable when on me, over top of the shirt I wore a sky blue jacket with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows and showing the white underside of the jacket, and covering my legs were skinny jeans of the same color as the coat. I turned to the door, ready to open it, when I remembered something. The Doctor could still be in the midst of changing. With flushed cheeks at the very thought, I quickly rapped my knuckles against the door. "Doctor? Are you decent?" Never thought I'd have to ask that when _I_ was the one in the changing room.

"Oh yes! Have been for the past ten minutes," he replied back. I opened the door and spotted the Doctor staring at his reflection and examining his face. Using the mirror he eyed me curiously. "What took you so long anyway?"

I shrugged. "Couldn't decide what I wanted to wear."

The Time Lord turned back to his mirror and rubbed at his jaw. I moved over beside him and silently looked him over. He had exchanged his pajamas for a nice fitting brown striped suit and, peeking out from under the suit, a white button up shirt and a matching brown tie with dark blue dots decorating it around his neck. He also wore a light brown trench coat over top of his suit which added a nice touch to his outfit. And did I mention the fact that he had on white converses? No? Well he did. He looked quite fine except for the shoes which just made him look ridiculous.

"What are you doing?" I asked him. I bent over like he was and stared into the mirror with him as he opened his jaw wide and snapped his teeth together.

"Figuring out what I look like," he answered. He frowned lightly and lightly picked at his non-ginger hair. "Rose was right. I am definitely not ginger." With a soft sigh he straightened up and fixed his coat before turning to me. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"How do I look?" He gestured to his entire body before stuffing his hands in his coat pockets.

"Um…" How does one answer a question like that? "Good?"

"I look good?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

"Dashing?"

The Time Lord thought it over for a moment. "Dashing? Dashing." He then grinned down at me. "I can live with dashing, Krysty."

"It's Krystal," I muttered as he spun around on his heel and started to make his way back to the main control room.

I slowly trailed after him and found the Time Lord gazing silently around his TARDIS. I wrapped my arms around my stomach and just watched as he went over to the control console in the middle of the room and lightly ran his fingers over a few of the levers and buttons.

"Krystal, what do you exactly need from me?" the Doctor quietly asked after a few minutes. "Why have you been looking for me?"

"I wish to go home, Doctor," I replied, just as quiet.

The Time Lord looked at me as I took a seat on the jump seat and rested my feet on the control console. He joined me after a moment and said, "Why?"

"I need to make sure, Doctor," I told him while staring up at the ceiling. I could feel a few tears in the corners of my eyes threatening to spill over. "I just want to check."

"Krystal, look at me." I shook my head since I really didn't wish for him to see me cry if the tears did fall. "Krystal, please." He started to bring his hand up to grab my face but I jerked back and glared at him.

"Don't touch me," I murmured. "Not now while I'm already feeling emotional. I don't wish to add your emotions to mine."

"Of course. I'm sorry," he sincerely told me. "But I need to know. How did you come to Earth?"

"It's a bit of a story," I warned him. "And it doesn't really have a happy ending."

"Sounds like the story of my life. Please. Tell me."

I sighed and the Doctor carefully wrapped an arm around my shoulder, making sure not to allow his bare hand to touch my skin. I hesitated before laying my head on his shoulder and closing my eyes. "For starters, though I bet you already know, I am a Colorian. The first one was born in the year 3 million and 52. Her name was Hope and she was the offspring of the Human Georgia Mari and the Spektrum Maximus."

The Doctor nodded with a sad look in his brown eyes. "I know about your species. The beginning. The end. The bits in between. All of it."

"Well, I was born in the year 6 billion and 82," I explained. "And life was pretty good until I was about nineteen."

"The Spread of the Impossible," he murmured.

"Yeah. The plague that was incurable." I closed my eyes as I felt a tear slide down my cheek. The Doctor pulled me slightly closer to him and tightened his grip on me comfortingly. "It came and in but a year took away half of our population. No one knew what to do except to just accept death. It was painful to watch. That's why we dubbed the disease the Impossible, you know. Because that's exactly what it was. Impossible. It should've had a cure, but it didn't. It shouldn't have been able to hold the power to kill off an entire race, but it did."

"And how did you escape?" the Doctor quietly asked me. "You should be dead, but you aren't. You're an impossible thing just like that plague."

I flinched at his words, even though they were true, and re-opened my eyes. My vision, and my eyes, had turned grey from how sad I was slowly becoming. The Doctor must've noticed because his hold on me tightened once more.

"Oh, you know us Colorians," I said with a bitter laugh. "Always trying to overcome obstacles since we're so bloody smart. I swear, just being around so many Humans for so long has dumbed me down somehow. Thank Goddess I've got you now, you smart Time Lord."

"Krystal," he murmured with his mouth extremely close to my ear.

I sighed. "At the age of twenty I was picked out of a wide selection of my people to be experimented on. The scientists told me that they were going to make sure that, no matter what, I would survive the Impossible. And after a year they finally succeeded. A long, painful year. There were a hundred scientists total, yet only five made it to the end and saw their goal, their dream, become a reality." I paused as my voice cracked and more tears fell down my face. "They had somehow made it possible for me to never age. Because of them, my body now also has this healing factor. Whenever I become ill or hurt, my body instantly begins the process of healing itself. The worse the damage the longer it takes to heal. I was told though that I can die. All it takes is one bullet to the heart, or any other way that you can think of that can instantly kill someone."

I paused after telling him of my curse, or at least to me it was, in order to see if the Doctor had anything to say. He just kept staring down at me with a strange sadness in his eyes. I wasn't sure if it was pity or something else. I couldn't bring myself to ask though in fear of the worse.

"Anyway, as soon as the remaining scientists achieved their goal, they forced me into a ship and told me to go and leave the planet. 'Keep the Colorian race alive' they said, just before sending me off into space. It wasn't the nicest way to go, I know, but I didn't exactly have much of a choice."

"You didn't even get to say goodbye to your loved ones?" the Time Lord asked astonished.

I shook my head, which was kinda weird since I was still had my head resting on his shoulder. "All my family had died before the Impossible struck my planet and what little friends I had perished from it. It was just me, which was why I didn't exactly mind being a part of their experiments."

The Doctor stared at me for a few minutes and I fidgeted a little from how intense his brown eyes were. Finally he asked, "How did you end up here then?"

"I tried to go to New Earth but my ship must've malfunctioned or something because I ended up here on plain old Earth about twenty years ago. Oh, and there's also the problem that, since I can't age, I've basically been twenty-one for twenty years."

"So you should actually be forty-one," he said.

I nodded and wiped my tears from my eyes. "Yeah. I should. But I'm not. Unfortunately my ship is basically busted and I can't time travel again, on the flipside though I'm able to still travel. I can't leave Earth of course, but I am able to go to any country that I can think of on this planet. One second I can be in England, the next I'm in America if I so wish. Traveling to different places has been the only way I've been able to hide from others that I don't age. It's a horrible way of living, but I've been able to deal with it."

"What about me?" he seriously asked. "Krystal, how did you know of me?"

I placed a gloved finger against his lips with a small smile. "That's a secret. I promised I'd keep my friend's identity a secret, at least until he finds you himself."

The Time Lord rose to his feet and then helped me up. "So it's a boy, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, Time Lord. If I'm going to travel with you as a companion then I'm going to need my belongings from my ship."

The Doctor turned giddy at that. "I've always liked a good ship!"

"It's actually not that impressive." I walked over towards the TARDIS's doors and pushed one open. Outside it had finally grown dark and the only lights that were on came from the neighboring houses and the streetlights.

"Krystal," the Doctor said, once more in a serious voice. I then noticed that apparently the Time Lord tended to call me by my actual name instead of the nickname whenever he was being serious.

"Yeah, Doctor?"

"Don't be too upset when I take you back to your home planet, okay? I'm just warning you now before we travel there," he told me. "It's going to be hard."

"I know, Doctor, I know. No matter what though, I need to see everything with my own two eyes."

* * *

"You weren't kidding, Krysty," the Doctor told me with wide eyes. "You really _do_ have loads of clothes."

"Oh, shut up and help me pack," I said while tossing a bag at his face. It smacked his mug before sliding to the floor. "And it's Krystal!" The Time Lord gave me a raised eyebrow silently asking 'Really?' I shrugged back and continued to stuff my things in the duffle bag that I held in my hands.

We packed my things in silence for a few minutes before the atmosphere became too quiet for me. I pressed a button on the radio beside me and music blasted out of its speakers. I think it was _Hips Don't Lie_…yeah, it was. The Doctor curiously glanced over at the machine as a song blared. I gave him a large grin and wiggled my eyebrows, earning a smile out of the Time Lord.

"21st century music," I said. "One of the only things I really like about this planet."

"Really? I would've guessed it were the clothes."

"Earth clothing isn't bad, but Colorian clothes are much softer. Oh, and brighter. Much, much brighter."

"Speaking of clothes, why do you have so many?" I glanced over and saw the Doctor examining all the shirts that were held in my small closet. I would've had more but there wasn't any more room.

I shrugged. "I like fashion. Enough said."

"But why all the fedoras?" he asked. "Who has this many fedoras anyway?"

I grinned and pulled on my navy blue fedora, the one with a feather that reminded me of Robin Hood, onto my head. "Because fedoras are cool!" I then winked at him as we started to pack in silence again, except for the music coming from the radio's speakers. Finally I couldn't help but ask the one question that had been on my mind for the past couple hours. "Doctor?"

"Yes, Krysty?"

"Krystal," I corrected him with a frown. He gave me a mysterious smile in return. "What exactly did you whisper in that boy's ear this morning?"

His smile grew and he mocked me by placing a finger before my lips, luckily not touching them. "That, my dear Krysty, is a secret."

* * *

After we had finished packing all of my belongings we headed towards the TARDIS so we could put all of my things inside of it (well really her since the Doctor insisted that his ship was a she). Along the way the Doctor had asked what we should do about my, now empty, ship, but I just waved it off and showed him my key. "No one can get into that ship unless they have this key and they know the passcode. Trust me."

About twenty minutes later after putting all of my things away, I was inside the Tyler's flat on their, now glass free, couch. The Time Lord had stayed in his TARDIS, mentioning how he was going to move it and park it in front of the flat after he did a few things and that I could head back on my own. I leaned back in my seat with folded arms and tiredly watched the television while Rose, Jackie, and Mickey sat around the table where loads of food sat. I had passed on their offer to eat with them, telling them that I wasn't very hungry, so now they waited for the Doctor to return.

Finally the Doctor showed up after another few minutes of waiting. As soon as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him, Rose looked over at him and gave him a smile. The Doctor grinned back at her before taking a seat at the end of the table beside her and Jackie.

Sometime while watching the television, when everyone was still at the table eating and whatnot, I fell asleep. I'm not quite sure how long I was out, but when I finally woke up, I found the Doctor standing in front of me staring down at the telly. I blinked and squinted up at him when I saw the red tissue paper crown that was placed on his head. I even rubbed at my eyes to make sure that I wasn't dreaming and what I was seeing was real.

I'll never understand Humans and their strange traditions…

"Look, there is nothing wrong with my health," I heard Harriet Jones say. I peered around the Doctor and spotted the Prime Minister on the telly talking to the Press. She looked quite upset at whatever it is the Press was asking her. I tiredly rubbed at my eyes again and continued to listen. "I don't know where these stories are coming from, and a vote of no confidence is completely unjustified."

Somewhere behind me I heard a telephone ring as a man from the Media asked, "Are you going to resign?"

"On today, of all days, I'm fine," Harriet answered back annoyed. "I'm fine. Look at me – I'm fine. I look fine. I feel fine."

Now I really want to know what the Doctor said to Translator Boy this morning. What were those six words?

"Are you going to give us an update?" the same man from the Media asked. "We deserve an answer, Prime Minister."

At the same time Jackie, who must've been the one to answer the phone, returned and said, "It's Beth. She says go and look outside."

"Why?" Rose asked her mum. The Doctor turned back to us and I saw him take off the glasses that were on his face. The Time Lord needed glasses?

"I don't know," Jackie replied turning off the phone. "Just go outside and look. Come on, shift!" I moved into a sitting position and craned my head over my shoulder to see Rose and Mickey tripping over the other as they ran for the door with Jackie behind them. The Doctor trailed after them all, after taking off his paper crown, but at a much slower pace.

"Hurry along, Krysty," he told me as he exited the flat.

"Krystal," I called after him. I jumped to my feet, cracked my back and neck, and then quickly raced after everyone else.

When we all walked outside, all the Humans stared in awe at the snow that was falling around us. I shivered from the cold and stuffed my hands into my jacket pockets, cursing myself for not grabbing something heavier, or at least a jacket that had a zipper. I walked beside the Doctor who also his hands in his pockets, more casually though since he didn't even look a little cold, and was gazing up at the night sky with a small frown on his face. On my other side, Mickey was gathering snow and making snowballs, throwing them at Rose and her mum, causing both to laugh with glee.

I leaned against the TARDIS's doors as Rose, her mum, and Mickey walked up beside the Doctor. They were all still staring up at the sky while the snow fell down onto all of us. I repeatedly had to run a hand through my blonde hair just to get the white flakes out. "Oh, that's beautiful. What are they – meteors?" Rose asked as many lights streaked across the sky.

"It's the spaceship breaking up in the atmosphere. This isn't snow – it's ash," the Doctor explained. I froze up at his words and slowly stared down at the ash that covered the ground. I then shuddered and pressed myself up against the TARDIS as more ash landed on my clothing and hair.

"I didn't need to know that," I commented.

"Okay, not so beautiful," Rose said.

"And this is a brand-new planet Earth. No denying the existence of aliens now. Everyone saw it. Everything's new," the Time Lord told us. I nodded along in agreement.

"And what about you?" Rose asked. She didn't meet his eyes as she brushed off some of the ash off of her jacket. "What are you gonna do next?"

"Well…back to the TARDIS, same old life." Rose finally looked up from her jacket and met the brown eyes of the Doctor.

"O-On your own?" Rose tentatively asked.

"Why – don't you want to come?"

"Well, yeah."

"Do you, though?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, I just thought, 'cause I changed…" the Doctor started to say.

"Yeah, I-I thought, 'cause you changed," Rose interrupted. "You might not want me anymore."

"Oh, I'd love you to come," the Time Lord grinned.

Rose smiled back. "Okay."

I had two questions that I was itching to ask aloud but I decided against. First off, when was he going to let Rose know that I was coming with them? Because the way he was talking to her made it seem like it was just going to be him and her. And two, was traveling with them always going to be like this? Is this how they talk with one another? Goddess I hope not.

"You're never gonna stay, are you?" Mickey asked Rose with a sad frown. I wonder how much Rose meant to him. Was he perhaps jealous of the Doctor?

Rose looked over at Mickey as he looked up at her and met her eyes. "There's just so much out there – so much to see," she told him. "…I've got to."

Mickey averted his eyes again and I couldn't help but feel bad for the boy. Could Rose not see how her leaving was affecting her friend? Her answer for even leaving wasn't even that good. "Yeah. Yeah."

Jackie stared at her daughter and the Doctor with folded arms to keep warm. "Well, I reckon you're mad. The pair of you. It's like you go looking for trouble."

The Doctor walked up beside her with a wide smile. "Trouble's just the bits in between!" he exclaimed. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and looked up at the night sky. "It's all waiting out there, Jackie, and it's brand-new to me. All those planets and creatures and horizons – I haven't seen them yet, not with these eyes." I gave a small smile while the Time Lord pulled his arm away from Jackie and looked down at her. The Doctor walked back over to stand beside Rose and continued, "And it is gonna be…fantastic."

The Time Lord stuck out a hand for Rose to take. The girl eyed it hesitantly. "That hand of yours still gives me the creeps." The Doctor's smile widened as he chuckled under his breath and wiggled his fingers a bit for her. Rose returned the smile and accepted his hand. The two stared up at the sky for a few seconds. Rose then moved closer to the Doctor's body and gripped his arm with her other hand. "So, where are we gonna go first?"

The Doctor looked at her and then back at the sky. "Um…" The Doctor brought his other hand up and pointed up at the sky in a certain direction. "That way. No, hold on." The Time Lord pulled his hand back and scanned the stars again. He then pointed once again but in a different direction, one that was only slightly to the left of the first. I rolled my eyes. "That way."

"That way?" Rose asked. She pointed at where the Doctor was still pointing at for a second before bringing her hand back down to the Doctor's arm.

"Do you think?" the Doctor asked.

Rose nodded. "Yeah, that way." The two of them then chuckled and the Doctor finally brought his hand back down.

Figuring that now was the time to take my chance, I cleared my throat. The Time Lord glanced over at me and gave me the slightest of nods in understanding when I gestured towards Rose with my chin. "Rose," he told her while holding his other hand out for me to take.

"Yes?" She looked up at him.

I hesitantly took the Doctor's hand and allowed him to pull me close to him. Rose gave me a blank look in confusion. I gave her a nervous smile back in response and scratched the back of my neck. Here goes nothing.

"I invited Krystal to travel with us," the Doctor explained.

Rose looked up at him in surprise. "But I thought she only came to you because she needed help? Why does she need to stay?"

"Rose," the Doctor told her. I fidgeted awkwardly beside him. "Krystal has nowhere to go. After I take the three of us on an adventure to a wonderful place tomorrow, I'm going to assist Krystal in the help she needs, but then afterwards she is going to stay with us on board the TARDIS."

"Oh. Yeah. I see," she told him with a small smile.

"I don't have to come if you really don't want me to," I quietly told Rose. "I can go back to my ship and figure out a life here on Earth instead."

The Doctor tightened his grip on my hand and I felt him rub circles comfortingly on the glove. "I am not leaving you here, Krystal. And I won't accept no as an answer."

"Yeah," Rose said with a tight smile. I bit my lip at the expression she wore. "Of course you can come along. The more the merrier!"

A bright smile appeared on the Time Lord's face. "That's the spirit, Rose! I said the same thing earlier, didn't I, Krysty?" He looked back and forth between Rose and me. Us two blondes.

"Krystal," I muttered.

"Krysty?" Rose asked confused.

"It's Krystal's new nickname!" he told her enthusiastically.

I sighed. "Only in your world it is, Doctor."

* * *

**Alrighty. So we've learned a bit about Krystal in this chapter, mostly her past and why she is on Earth. Colorian is pronounced Ca-lore-e-in. I didn't go much into some of the abilities of Krystal's species though or her E.T.L. because Krystal, like she said, guessed that the Doctor pretty much knew about her people so she didn't quite see a point in talking about her abilities. Next chapter will probably go into depth though since Rose has no clue who or what Krystal is and is going to be asking some questions, which should answer every reader's thoughts as well, though there have been subtle hints throughout the chapters. **

**Oh, and by the way, for those who have noticed, yes Krystal did indeed say, and I quote, "Fedoras are cool."' It's going to be something she'll say a lot when asked about why she is wearing a fedora, like 11 does with his bow ties, fezzes, stetsons, and whatever else he deems cool. There is a reason for why I have her saying that, trust me. If you really wish to know why I have her say what she says about fedoras, ask and I'll tell ya. If not you'll just have to wait until the reason comes into light, which is probably going to be a long time from now. And I mean a _long_ time... **

**Besides that, thank you for reading. Please comment letting me know your thoughts. It would mean the world to me. **

**P.S. I will probably put a link up soon for what Krystal looks like and her clothing, plus banners that I like to make for the chapters. They're not much though unfortunately. They're just pictures from scenes that were in the chapter with the name of the chapter number and name over top. I'll probably do it next chapter though. I'm too tired, and lazy, to put the links up now.  
**


	6. Chapter 5: New New York

The next morning I awoke with a start. I silently looked around the room I was in for a few seconds, wondering where I was and how I got here, when I remembered that I was only just on the TARDIS in my new bedroom. I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up, bringing my legs over the side of the bed as I did so. I glanced around my room with a small smile.

Each wall was white with neon colored paint splattered everywhere. My bed was basically the same design as the walls, or at least the bed cover and pillow cases were. The sheets were just white. All my belongings were still in the bags that the Doctor and I had packed yesterday and were sitting in the corner of the room closest to the door, waiting for me to put everything away. There was a carpet on the floor which was as blue as the TARDIS, and soft to the touch, and beside my bed was one of those star light projectors that were usually for toddlers, except the Doctor had used his sonic screwdriver last night and had made the projector project a real galaxy onto my ceiling instead of the stars that come with the projector.

The whole room reminded me of the room that I had had back on my planet. Apparently it was no coincident though. The Doctor had told me last night, when he had first shown me the room, that the TARDIS basically based the room using the memories I had. All of the TARDIS bedrooms were meant to make whoever slept in them feel at home, that way the people would feel at rest and at ease and wouldn't easily grow homesick. It was a nifty trick and I was quite thankful for the TARDIS and the amazing things it could do.

I exited my room and made my way through the mazelike corridors. Even though I tried to retrace the Doctor's and my steps from the night before, I got lost multiple times. It took an extra, what felt like, ten minutes just to get to the main control room.

"Good morning, Doctor," I mumbled tiredly to the mad man when I entered the control room.

He grinned at me from where he stood beside the console in the middle of the room and ruffled my, already messy, hair when I walked past him. "Good morning, Krysty. Sleep well?"

"Krystal," I muttered. "And yeah I did. It was wonderful. Much better than sleeping on the mattress in my ship."

"That's good. Are you hungry?" he asked.

I was about to say no when my stomach rumbled loudly. The Doctor laughed while I just sighed. "I am indeed."

The Doctor shrugged on his brown jacket and ran down the ramp towards the doors. "I'll go and get you some food then from Rose and her mum. I doubt they'd mind much."

I blinked at him as I plopped down on the jump seat. "But you showed me last night on my tour that the TARDIS has a kitchen."

"Yes. Yes, it does. But I need to check on Rose anyway so I'll be back real quick. Don't go anywhere," and he opened the TARDIS's doors and darted out.

I jumped back off of the jump seat and walked back to my room. Thankfully I didn't get as lost this time on the way. I shut the door of the room and then started to strip down from the nightshirt I wore. I tossed the shirt onto my bed before grabbing the clothes that the Doctor had forced me to pick out yesterday and putting them back on as well as my fedora. I had only worn the outfit for a couple hours yesterday so it wasn't even that dirty and I figured that wearing it for today as well wouldn't harm anyone. Besides, I still needed to show it off to people, or at least people who I didn't know. Like I already mentioned, I looked good.

When I returned to the control room I found the Doctor back already from the Tyler's home with his trench coat hanging off one of the strange looking pillars in the room. He didn't look up at me as he tossed the apple he held over to me. Since I wasn't really ready for it, I almost dropped the red fruit on the grating. With a sheepish smile in his direction, I quietly began to nibble on the apple while I leaned against some of the railing.

"Is Rose about ready?" I asked him after swallowing one of my bites.

He nodded while keeping his eyes on the buttons and knobs and whatever else he was messing with on the console. The giant blue thing in the middle, I really wish I knew its name, started to move up and down, casting the glow it caused on him and me. The Time Lord grinned up at it before answering me. "She's saying goodbye to her mum and Mickey as we speak."

I nodded slightly. "Good. That's good."

The Doctor hit a few more buttons and then a moment later Rose entered the TARDIS with a black and red bag on her back and a knit hat on her head. The Doctor spotted her as she tossed her bag to the floor and started to take off her coat. She grinned at him and he returned it as he pulled another lever.

The TARDIS started to shake slightly causing me to drop the rest of my apple. I cursed as it rolled away from me. I dropped down to my knees and crawled around looking for it while Rose threw her jacket on top of her bag and then made her way over to the console so she was standing beside the Doctor.

Rose placed her hands on the console and looked over towards the Time Lord. "So, where are we going?" she asked him.

I finally found my apple underneath the jump seat. I slowly stood back to my feet and frowned at my ruined fruit. I plopped down onto the jump seat and gave the fruit a glum look as the Doctor turned to Rose and said, "Further than we've ever gone before."

"Meaning where exactly?" I asked, remembering how the Doctor had mentioned last night that we were going to have a fun little adventure before he took me back to my planet.

The Time Lord turned to me and his grin widened. "Hold on tight, Krysty!"

"Krystal, Doctor. My name is Krystal." I then thought of the words that he had actually said to me and I added, "Wait, what?"

The shaking got worse and all of a sudden I felt my body falling off of the jump seat. Pain erupted through my body as my head bashed against the TARDIS's console and then my whole body flew back and slammed against the railing. A groan escaped my slightly parted lips and I clenched my eyes shut. I slowly slumped to the ground and just laid there with my hands holding my aching head.

Finally the shaking stopped and I mumbled, "Owie."

"Are you alright, Krystal?" I heard Rose ask me. I cracked an eye open and found her and the Doctor standing above me with concerned looks.

My other eye opened and both narrowed slightly at her. "Well, besides the fact that I may have just given myself a bloody concussion…I feel peachy!" I told her sarcastically.

She started to glare back at me but then she gasped. "Your eyes just changed colors. They're now red. Bright red. How did they do that?!"

Shoot. I forgot to put my contacts back in.

The Doctor crouched down next to me and reached out a hand for me to accept. "Now, Rose, don't stare," he told her as he helped me up. "Her emotions…her irises changing color…she can't help it. It's part of who she is."

"And what exactly is she?" Rose asked.

"Colorian," he replied when he and I were standing up. I held my head with one hand as I dusted myself off with my other. "She a Colorian, Rose."

Rose looked at me. "Why did your eyes change colors though?"

I sighed. I knew Rose and I were going to be having this conversation but I was hoping it wasn't going to be so soon. "My eyes change colors based on my emotions. When I'm angry, and I mean _really_ angry, my eyes, as well as my vision, turns red, when I'm sad they turn grey, etc. Any emotion you can think of causes my eyes to change. The color doesn't last long fortunately, only until I've calmed down."

"But your eyes didn't change whatsoever yesterday," Rose said confused. "You got angry at me yesterday and not once did your eyes turn red."

"Contacts," I simply told her. "I wore contacts that match my real eye color."

"Can you do anything else?"

I nodded. "I can also read other people's emotions just by making skin contact of any kind."

Rose turned sympathetic at that. "That must be horrible. How are you able to touch the ones you love?"

I winced slightly. "Well, our abilities don't exactly work on other Colorians. I'm not sure why, but they just don't."

Rose turned back to the Doctor as he walked over to the pillar with his coat. "And how did you know that she was a, um, Colorian? She looks just like you and me."

The Doctor came back over to us as he pulled on his coat. "Well, besides the fact that Krystal told me her race, I also saw the choker around her neck." He moved back so he was standing next to me and tapped my choker's pendent with one of his fingers. "See this, Rose? Every Colorian receives one of these at the age of five. They never take them off."

"Never ever," I added.

"What is it?" Rose moved closer to me and inspected the choker around my neck.

"It basically acts like a mood ring," he explained to her. "It changes colors along with her eyes to show her emotions." The Doctor then ran back down the ramp and to the TARDIS's doors, where he proceeded to open one of them. "Now hurry along you two. I think it's time we head outside, don't you?" Rose grinned and hurried down the ramp and out the door. The Time Lord met my eyes just before stepping out as well. I silently thanked the mad man for changing the subject before trailing after the two of them.

The Doctor closed the door as soon as I was standing outside. Rose was a few steps away and was staring in awe up at the city and the cars flying overhead. I couldn't see a thing except every few seconds since my hair kept flying around my face. What bugged me the most was that it kept getting it my mouth.

"It's the year 5 billion and 23," the Doctor explained to us. He walked up next to Rose while he had his hands in his pockets. Like Rose was trying to do, I tried to keep my hair out of my face so I could see. I moved over and stood on the other side of the Doctor. My own eyes widened at the view. I had never seen New Earth look like this before. I may've only been born a billion years later, but New Earth has changed so much. "We're in the Galaxy M87, and this…this is New Earth."

"That's just - that's just-" Rose broke off with a laugh.

"Not bad," the Doctor said. "Not bad at all."

"That's amazing," she told him.

"It's so gorgeous," I murmured.

"Oh, I'll never get used to this, never," Rose said with a smile. She then started to hop up and down. "Different ground beneath my feet. Different sky. What's that smell?"

The Doctor bent down and picked up a few strands of grass. "Apple grass," he explained while showing her.

"Apple grass," Rose repeated him.

"Yeah, yeah."

I took in a huge whiff. "Reminds me of home." Oh, how I missed my home planet so much.

"It's beautiful," Rose told him. "Oh, I love this. Can I just say?" She grabbed a hold of the Doctor's arm and looked up into his eyes. He stared back into hers. I felt like a third wheel…like I figured I might. Why did I choose to actually stay as a companion again? "Traveling with you, I love it."

The Doctor grinned. "Me too." Rose giggled at his words. The Time Lord then grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him. "Come on!"

I blinked in surprise as he and she ran off, leaving me behind. I watched the two of them run together, not even noticing that they were alone and that I wasn't following. I gave a sigh as their figures started to grow smaller in the distance and then angrily marched after them.

* * *

Finally I found the two of them lying on top of the Doctor's jacket. Rose had her legs crossed and was leaning up on her elbows while she gazed out at the city. The Doctor had his legs crossed as well except he was lying all the way back and had one hand on his stomach and his other arm cushioning his head. I slowly walked over to the two of them.

"There you are, Krysty," the Doctor said to me. "We've been waiting for you." He then grinned at me and patted the small space that was left between him and Rose. "Join us."

Instead I just scooted him over and took the edge of the coat instead. I really didn't want to chance accidently touching one of their hands.

The Time Lord gave me a curious look before saying, "So, the year 5 billion – the sun expands. The Earth gets roasted."

Rose gave him a smile. "That was our first date."

"We had chips," the Doctor replied back. Rose laughed.

Now this was just awkward, though it leaves me with a question…

"Date? So the two of you are dating then?" I asked them confused.

"No. Of course not! Why would you say that?" Rose exclaimed.

"You just said how it was the first date for the two of you," I told her. I turned on my side and leaned on my elbow so I could look at her directly. The Doctor's eyes darted between her and me.

"It definitely was not a date like what you think!" Rose hurriedly told me with flushed cheeks.

I raised an eyebrow. "Then elaborate please, Rose, so I can understand what you mean."

This time the Doctor spoke up. "I took Rose to see the Earth when it was being destroyed."

I blinked down at him in surprise. "Well, that settles that," I murmured.

"Settles what?" he asked confused.

"I am never, _ever_, going on a date with you, Doctor."

The Doctor scrunched his eyebrows together and blinked back at me. I ignored him and just flopped back down onto his jacket. After a few moments of silence he cleared his throat and continued the history lesson that he was giving earlier. "So, anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the Human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, oh, they get all nostalgic, big revival moment. They find this place." The Time Lord sits up like Rose and looks out at the city. I scooted a few inches to my right when his hand almost touched my bare arm. "Same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit – lovely. Call goes out. The Humans move in."

"What's the city called?" Rose asked him.

"New New York," he and I said at the same time.

"Oh, come on," Rose said in a disbelieving voice.

"It is!" the Doctor exclaimed. I turned back onto my side and nodded my head in complete seriousness when I as positive that she was able to see me. "It's the city of New New York. Strictly speaking, it's the 15th New York since the original. So that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York."

"Oh, just wait until you get to my time," I told the both of them. "New New York has so many News in its name that no one ever calls it by its actual name anymore. I had a friend once who called it Too Many News to Count York." The Doctor chuckled and gave me a small smile.

Rose then suddenly giggled. From the way she was staring down at the Time Lord though, I figured that it wasn't at what I had said but instead at what he had said. She had just waited until I had finished speaking to let it out. I wasn't sure if she was being rude or not.

"What?" the Doctor asked, turning his head back to her.

"You're so different," she told him.

"New new Doctor," he answered, causing her to laugh again. I smiled. He laughed back at her.

"Can we go and visit New New York – so good they named it twice?" Rose asked as she started to stand.

"That actually sounds quite fun," I agreed. "I wouldn't mind seeing New New York while it's still new."

I quickly scrambled off the Doctor's coat when I saw him stand as well. "Well, I thought we might go _there_ first." He looked over at the giant building to our east while he pulled on his coat.

I groaned. "Do we have to, Doctor? Really?"

Rose noticed my disappointment and asked, "Why? What is it?"

"It's a hospital," I explained to her before he could answer. I then shuddered and wrapped my arms around my stomach. "I hate hospitals."

The Doctor nodded while still pulling on his coat. "Green moon on the side – that's the universal symbol for hospitals."

"Hmm," Rose went.

"I got this," the Doctor continued. He reached into coat pocket and pulled out some sort of black wallet. When he opened it to show us the inside, I realized that it wasn't a wallet but Psychic Paper. I had seen Psychic Paper once when I was little. It had been my cousin's. "Message on the Psychic Paper," he explained. As he spoke, words appeared on the Psychic Paper. They read 'Ward 26. Please come.' "Someone wants to see me."

"Hmm, and I thought we were just sightseeing," Rose said. She grabbed the Doctor's arm and hooked hers through his. "Come on, then. Let's go and buy some grapes." Before they started to walk away, I quickly grabbed the Doctor's other hand and intertwined our fingers. Even though I really didn't want to go inside of the hospital, I really did not want to get left behind again either.

* * *

Rose entered the first set of doors of the hospital with a smile while the Doctor had to literally drag me inside since I had stopped walking the closer we got to the huge building. "Come on, Krystal!" he told me. "I hate hospitals too, yet you don't see me freezing up."

Rose laughed at him at how ironic that was. "Bit rich, coming from you."

"I can't help it," he told her as he pulled me through the second set of doors with Rose giving us a strange look as she walked beside us. "I don't like hospitals. They give me the creeps."

We continued forward, him still dragging me along like a child, as the intercom overhead went, "The Pleasure Gardens will now take visitors carrying green or blue identification cards for the next fifteen minutes. Visitors are reminded that cuttings from the gardens are not permitted."

"Very smart," Rose breathed out in awe. The Doctor finally stopped dragging me and instead wrapped an arm around my shoulder so I had no choice but to follow. There was also the fact that people had been staring at us and I still couldn't escape. "Not exactly N.H.S."

"No shop," the Doctor said. "I like the little shop."

Rose walked backwards for a moment while her eyes roamed the entire building. "I thought this far in the future, they'd have cured everything."

"The Human race moves on, but so do the viruses," the Time Lord explained to her. I flinched as memories of the Impossible played through my head. The Doctor tightened his hold on me since I was so close to bolting out of there. "It's an ongoing war."

Every once in a while the intercom went, "Hope, harmony, and health."

One of the nurses of the hospital walked by Rose and nodded towards the blonde. As soon as she passed by, Rose gave us a surprised look. "They're cats," she said in disbelief, pointing slightly at the one who had walked by.

The Doctor walked with me over to her and said, "Now, don't stare." The same words he had told her when she had stared at me. Does she not understand how rude and hurtful it is to stare and point at someone behind their back? "Think what you look like to them, all…" The Doctor's eyes roamed up and down Rose's body before he gestured at her using his head. "Pink and yellow." He then looked up at the blank wall standing behind her and pointed over at it with the hand that wasn't around my shoulders. "_That's_ where I'd put the shop – right there."

Rose stared at the Doctor as he pulled me with him to the elevators that stood behind us. When I glanced over my shoulder at her, I found her just standing there looking all around her. "Rose?" I called to her when she still hadn't moved.

She locked her eyes with mine as the Time Lord took me into the open, and empty, elevator and said, "Ward 26, thanks."

We turned around as Rose finally understood what was happening. "Hold on! Hold on!" she exclaimed, running towards us.

The door shut before she could get inside and we started to move upwards. "Oh, too late. We're going up," he told her.

"It's all right. There's another lift!"

"Ward 26 – and watch out for the Disinfectant!" he called down to her.

Oh, bloody hell no!

"Watch out for what?"

"The Disinfectant!"

"The what?"

"The Di- oh, you'll find out," he said to himself. He then looked down at me and removed his arm so he could place both of his hands in his coat pockets. "And why are you so scared of hospitals?"

"They r-remind me to m-much of w-when the b-bloody scientists experimented o-on me," I told him, accidently stuttering at just the very thought. I coughed into my arm and cleared my throat before continuing. "There's also the fact that I started to hate hospitals since they are where I saw all of my friends for the last time before they died from the Impossible."

"But I thought you told me that you volunteered to be experimented on?" he asked with scrunched eyebrows, referring to my first reason.

I nodded. "Just because I volunteered didn't mean I enjoyed every minute of it. It was _so_ painful."

The Doctor looked he was going to say something else, but he was cut off when the elevator's speaker said, "Commence stage one – Disinfection." The light bulbs in the corners of the elevator then turned green and beeped just before water sprayed out of every side and drenched him and me in water.

I quickly grabbed my fedora and tucked it under my shirt. I then cluctched the Doctor's arm tightly and gasped at how cold the water was. I hadn't been disinfected in years so I had forgotten all about how horrible it was. The relaxed Time Lord just closed his eyes and smiled up at the ceiling. As the water continued to spray us, the Doctor brought both his hands up and ran them through his hair. Once he finished with his hair, he laughed and started to do the same to mine. He was so lucky that I had so much hair covering my scalp. If I hadn't, he would've easily touched my skin instead of all of my blonde hair.

Once the water stopped spraying, I smacked his hands away from my head with a frown. "Personal space, much?" A moment later, the white powder exploded onto us. My least favorite part of the whole Disinfectant. "My mouth was open," I whined. "That's disgusting!"

After the powder, the vents kicked on and the dryers came on. The Doctor stood beside me with a wide smile on his face as he opened up his jacket and allowed his whole body to become dry. His jacket flapped from the dryer and he brought his head back so the air could go through his hair. I ran a hand repeatedly through my hair to help it dry but to also keep tangles from forming. I then took off my jacket and held it in front of me so I could dry more easily.

Finally the dryers turned off and I sighed in relief, tying my jacket around my waist as I did so. "I never want to do that ever again. I _hate_ having to be disinfected." I shook my hair out a bit, ran my fingers through it a bit more, tied it up into a ponytail, and then placed my hat back on my head.

The Doctor laughed at me. "Oh, it wasn't that bad. I just wonder how Rose took it."

I shrugged. "Well, you tried to warn her. It's not your fault that she couldn't hear you."

"How are you feeling now?" the Doctor asked me.

"Peachy. Squeaky clean, actually," I answered back sarcastically.

"Well, that's good then, Krysty."

"It's Krystal," I told him.

"Right-o, Kryst!" he grinned.

"Another nickname? What did I just say? My name is Krystal so stop that already!"

"Krys Krysity Kryst?"

"Alright, now you're just making things up," I growled. The elevator then dinged opened and I stomped out. "Finally!" The Doctor caught up with me with an amused grin on his face and together we walked looking for someone to give us directions.

One of the nurses of the hospital started to walk by and I quickly grabbed her arm. Even though she had a white veil covering her face, she turned her head and looked back at me. "Yes? Is there something I can help you with?"

"Um, can you show my friend and me where the ward is?" I asked her.

She nodded her head and I released her arm. "Certainly. Please. Follow me. My name is Sister Jatt." She started to walk off in the same direction that she was originally going and the Doctor and I trailed after her.

When we finally entered the floor's ward, I gave off a whistle. I had never actually been in ward like this before. The hospitals back on my planet were a lot smaller. My people had a cure for almost everything so not that many people had to live in the hospital. The Doctor looked around the room with his hands stuffed in his pockets while I crossed my arms. "Nice place," he told the nurse. "No shop downstairs. I'd have a shop."

"Why are you obsessed with shops?" I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"Not a big one, just a…shop," he continued. "So people can…shop."

Sister Jatt removed her veil so she could look up at the Doctor. "The hospital is a place of healing."

"A shop does some people a world of good," he told her. "Not me – other people. Like Krysty for example."

"Krystal," I muttered. I then realized what he said. "Why the bloody hell would I want to shop in a hospital?!"

The Doctor looked down at me with raised eyebrows. "I figured you liked to shop since you've got so many clothes."

I sighed. "I like to shop for clothes, but that's it, Doctor. Hospital shops tend to not have clothes but smaller things. That's why they're usually referred to as gift shops." He shrugged at me and all three of us then started to walk forward.

"The Sisters of Plenitude take a lifelong vow to help and to mend," the nurse told us, clasping her hands together.

We walked by a few people with diseases that I had never seen before. When we started to go by a bigger man who looked like he was turning to stone, the woman beside him said to us, "Excuse me!" The Doctor's eyes traveled from the man on the bed to the woman who had walked up to us. I gave her a raised eyebrow. "Members of the public may only gaze upon the Duke of Manhattan with written permission from the Senate of New New York."

The Doctor's eyes went back over to the Duke. "That's Petrifold Regression, right?" he asked.

I nodded. "I've seen this before. I had a grandfather who caught the disease, Doctor."

"I'm dying, sir," the Duke told him. "A lifetime of charity and abstinence, and it ends like this."

I turned to the Duke and said in a soft voice, "I'm so sorry. Really, I am. I wish you the best though, Duke."

"Thank you, madam," the Duke replied to me.

The woman that spoke before looked back at us. "Any statements made by the Duke of Manhattan may not be made public without official clearance." Behind her black glasses, her eyes especially lingered on me. I glared back at her and my eyes flashed red.

"Frau Clovis," the Duke called for her. Frau turned back to the Duke and took his hand. The Doctor, Sister Jatt, and I continued to watch the two of them. "I'm so weak," the Duke told her.

"Sister Jatt!" Frau hissed at us. "A little privacy, please!" The Duke groaned and she immediately turned back to him.

Sister Jatt gestured for us to follow her and we did. "He'll be up and about in no time," she told us.

"I doubt it," the Doctor said.

"Sister Jatt," I told her. "I'm with the Doctor."

The Doctor decided to elaborate since it seemed as if she didn't understand what we were telling her. "Petrifold Regression – he's turning to stone. "There won't be a cure for…" The Time Lord scratched his head in thought. "Ooh, a thousand years? He might be up and about, but only as a statue."

"Have faith in the Sisterhood," Sister Jatt told us. "But is there no one here you recognize? It's rather unusual to visit without knowing the patient."

I looked around the room and then shook my head when I spotted no one. The Doctor on the other hand instantly found someone. "No. I think I've found him."

"Who?" I looked the same way he was looking and saw only… "The Face of Boe?!" I exclaimed. "You personally know the Face of Boe?" He nodded and followed after Sister Jatt. I watched him walk off with wide eyes before trailing along behind them.

"Novice Hame," Sister Jatt said to another one of the nurses. "If I can leave this gentleman and lady in your care."

"Oh, I think our friend got lost, uh, Rose Tyler," the Doctor told Sister Jatt. I blinked and looked back behind us. Rose _was_ missing, wasn't she? I hadn't even noticed. "Could you ask at reception?"

Sister Jatt nodded. "Certainly, sir," she said before leaving.

The Doctor and I looked down at the Face of Boe. I went into a crouching position and leaned in close to the glass. This was the first time I had ever seen the Face of Boe before since he died before I was even born. It was such an honor!

"I'm afraid the Face of Boe's asleep," Novice Hame told us. "That's all he tends to do these days." She looked up at the Doctor. "Are you a friend or…?"

"We met just the once on Platform One," he told her. I looked back at him. He was on Platform One?

"And you?" she then asked me.

"I've heard of the Face of Boe, but I actually don't know him at all, honestly," I replied. "I'm here with him." I gestured towards the Doctor with my head.

"What's wrong with him?" the Doctor asked the nurse.

"I'm so sorry. I thought you knew," she said.

I sat down on the floor and leaned back on my hands so I could look up at the two of them. "Knew what? What's wrong, Novice Hame?"

Novice Hame's eyes glanced between the two of us. "The Face of Boe is dying," she told us. My eyebrows scrunched together. That can't be right. The Face of Boe doesn't die for at least another twenty years or so.

The Doctor and Novice Hame looked down at the Face of Boe. I returned my eyes to him as well. "Of what?" the Doctor asked.

"Old age – one thing we can't cure," she told him. He's thousands of years old – some people say millions, although that's impossible."

"Oh, I don't know. I like impossible," the Doctor said. My head instantly snapped up to look at the Doctor at his words. He gave me a sad grin and placed a hand on my shoulder as he knelt down beside me. "I'm here," he told the Face of Boe. "I look a bit different, but it's me. It's the Doctor." He placed a hand on the glass as we listened to the Face of Boe's breathing.

I wrapped an arm around the Doctor's shoulders and leaned my head on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. "And I'm here for you, Doctor. I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

* * *

**You know, I've read a few other _Doctor Who_ stories the past couple months, and out of all the ones I've read that involve the episodes from the show, not one so far has done the _New Earth_ episode. This is one of my favorite episodes so I am totally psyched to do this one. **

**Anyway, comment, favorite, and follow please and a thank a you!** **Also, any questions just ask.**

**P.S. I also put up picture links on my profile for the story. I hope they work. Let me know if there are any problems.  
**


	7. Chapter 6: A Human Farm

The Doctor and I stared together in silence at the Face of Boe for several minutes along with Novice Hame before the Time Lord finally stood up. He stretched, took off his jacket, and then placed it over my shoulders. I turned my face and looked up at him in confusion. "What's this for?"

He gestured towards the jacket while scratching his cheek. "It's just a precaution for you so you don't go and accidently brush skin with anyone. I know you have your own jacket, but mine is longer and covers more of the body."

I nodded, giving him a small smile and pulling his jacket tighter around my body. "Thank you."

"No problem," he replied.

"No. I'm serious. Thank you," I said softly. "It's been years since I've been with someone who cares so much."

The Doctor winked at me before walking off to Goddess knows where.

"You seem to enjoy his company," Novice Hame told me. I glanced at her while resituating my body so I was sitting Indian style.

"Yeah. I do," I answered back. "I feel as if I can relate with him for some reason."

"He makes you happy?" she asked.

I fidgeted uncomfortably. "I'm not sure if I would say that exactly. I mean, I guess he does make me smile, but I've only known him for a day really. When I first met him, he was in a coma."

She blinked down at me in confusion. "He was in a coma?"

I nodded. "He was very sick and was pretty much unconscious for an entire day."

"Well, even if you are still unsure of your feelings towards him," Novice Hame began. "Do you wish to know what I think?"

"What, Novice Hame?"

She smiled down at me and I could instantly tell how sincere she was. "I believe that he truly cares for you with all his heart."

Well, technically it would be "with all his hearts", but what she says still has the same meaning.

"You think?" I asked quietly since I spotted the Doctor walking back towards us with three clear cups in his hands.

She nodded. "I do. I can see it in the way he acts towards you, as well as the way he looks at you. He cares deeply."

I pulled the Time Lord's jacket even tighter around my body as he came up to Novice Hame first and handed her a cup of water. She looked up at him and gave him a smile of gratitude. "That's very kind," she told him. "There's no need."

"You're the one working," he told her while bending down to hand me a glass as well. I accepted it with a small smile and took a sip. My mind was still taking in what Novice Hame had just told me.

The Doctor rose back into a standing position and stood beside me, sipping at his drink. "There's not much to do – just maintain his smoke. And I suppose I'm company," Novice Hame said to us. "I can hear him singing sometimes, in my mind. Such ancient songs."

"Are we the only visitors?" the Doctor asked for us. I quietly finished off my water and placed the cup beside me on the floor.

"The rest of Boe-kind became extinct long ago," Novice Hame said. "He's the only one left."

I placed a hand on the Face of Boe's glass followed by my forehead. "I know how that feels," I muttered.

"Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old," Novice Hame said. "There's all sorts of superstitions around him. One story says that, just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret, that he will speak those words only to one like himself."

"I've heard that story." I turned back around and looked back and forth between Novice Hame and the Doctor.

"What does that mean?" the Doctor asked, referring to the story.

"It's just a story," Novice Hame told him.

"Tell me the rest," the Doctor said in a serious voice.

I decided to take over for Novice Hame. I stood to my feet and took the Doctor's hands in both of my gloved ones. "It's said he'll talk to a wanderer," I told him in a quiet voice. The Doctor's brown eyes locked with my blue ones as he listened to my words. "To the man without a home, the lonely god." The Time Lord looked away and over at the Face of Boe as I noticed that the gears in his head were turning. "Doctor?" I murmured. "What are you thinking?"

He looked back down at me again and stared unblinking into my eyes for a few seconds. He then lowered his mouth and placed it by my ear. "I believe the story is referring to me, Krystal." When he pulled back, he noticed that my eyes had widened slightly.

I gulped and glanced myself back at the Face of Boe. "Really? Are you positive?"

He nodded. "I do."

"Oh, you poor thing," I murmured when I noticed the sad look in his eyes. I turned back to him and pulled him into a tight hug. He wrapped his arms around me and allowed me to press my forehead against his chest. I could feel both of his hearts pounding hard and fast in an almost soothing rhythm. It's hard to describe.

After several minutes of the two of us just standing there in the other's arms, the Doctor finally pulled back and said, "I think we better find Rose. She should've found us by now. It doesn't take that long to get to Ward 26."

I nodded and looked back at Novice Hame. "Is there a phone anywhere close by, Novice Hame?" Unfortunately I left mine in my room on the TARDIS.

Novice Hame nodded and pointed towards the direction of the door. "It's near the doors. A white phone by the wall."

"Thank you!" the Doctor grinned, already pulling me off towards where Novice Hame had directed us.

I found the phone first and instantly handed it over to the Doctor. He dialed in Rose's number and then held up against his ear. I placed my chin on his shoulder so I could listen in as well.

Finally Rose picked up. "Rose, where are you?" the Doctor asked her.

"_Umm…_" she began. "_Wotcha?_"

"Where've you been?" the Doctor asked her. "How long does it take to get to Ward 26?"

"Are you lost, Rose? You want me to come and find you?" I asked.

"_I'm on my way, guvnas,_" she answered back to the both of us. "_I shall proceed up the apple and pears._"

My eyebrows scrunched together. "Are you feeling alright, Rose? Your voice sounds kinda weird. Actually, the words you're speaking are kinda weird too, now that I think about it."

"_Oh, I'm fine. I feel great…,_" she said, leaving her sentence hanging open.

"Krystal," I reminded her. What the bloody hell was wrong with her?

The Doctor on the other hand looked as if he hadn't noticed a thing wrong with her. "You'll never guess. Krystal and I are with the Face of Boe," he told her with a smile. "Remember him?"

Rose let off a weird chuckle. "_'Course I do,_" she said as the sound of a cork popping suddenly sounded in the ward. With my head on the Doctor's right shoulder though, I couldn't see who had opened the bottle. "_That big old Boe…race._"

"We'd better go," the Doctor told her, already starting to pull the phone away from his ear. I lifted my head from his shoulder and peered around him to see what he was looking at. "See you in a minute."

I trailed after the Doctor after he hung up the phone and started making his way towards where the sound of laughing was now coming from. As I followed him, I realized that the noise had come from the Duke of Manhattan's area since I then heard him say, "I didn't think I was going to make it, dear."

The Time Lord and I walked up to his bed and found the Duke as healthy as healthy comes. "That's impossible," I breathed out.

The Doctor tugged at his ear as the Duke exclaimed, "It's that man and woman again!" The Doctor grinned back at him and gave off a disbelieving chuckle at the sight of the Duke. "They're my good-luck charms. Come in! Don't be shy!" I then noticed that in one of the Duke's hands was a glass of champagne. They allowed champagne in hospitals?

"Any friendship expressed by the Duke of Manhattan does not constitute a formal legal contract," Frau Clovis told us. She also had a glass of champagne. If champagne was actually allowed here, than I wouldn't mind a glass.

The Doctor gave the woman a swift nod as the Duke told her, "Winch me up." Frau Clovis pressed a button on the remote she held and the Duke's bed rose up so he could see the Doctor and me better.

"Ah!" he cheered. "Look at me – no sign of infection."

A butler that I hadn't even noticed before walked up beside the Doctor and held a silver plate before us with two glasses of champagne. "Champagne, sir, madam?" he asked us.

"No, thanks," the Doctor told him.

At the same moment though that the Doctor spoke, I snatched one of the glasses from the tray. "Yes, please! Thank you!"

"Um – you had Petrifold Regression, right?" the Doctor asked the Duke.

"'Had' being the operative word," the Duke said back with a smile. "Past tense. Completely cured," he laughed.

"But that's impossible," the Doctor told him repeating the words that I had already said.

"You should still be nothing but stone," I added.

"Primitive species would accuse us of magic, but it's merely the tender application of science," said one of the nurses as she came up and stood beside the Doctor.

I was just about to take a sip of my glass of champagne when the Doctor snatched the glass from my hand and placed it back on the silver tray as the Duke's butler walked by. I gave him a raised eyebrow. "Really? I'm technically twenty-one."

"No," the Doctor told me in a stern voice. He acted like I was a child. He then turned back to the cat nurse and asked, "How on Earth did you cure him?"

"'How on _New_ Earth,' you might say," she corrected him with a secretive smile.

The Doctor nodded over towards the two colorful bags of medicine. "What's in that solution?"

"A simple remedy," she answered.

I walked around the both of them and lightly grabbed the bag full of blue medicine and inspected it. I could feel both the nurse's and Frau Clovis's eyes on me, just waiting for me to do something horrible.

"Then tell me what it is," the Doctor prompted.

"I'm sorry – patient confidentiality," the nurse told him. I quickly inspected the other bag, a bright orange medicine, before turning back around to face her and the Doctor. "I don't believe we've met. My name is Matron Casp."

"That's Krystal Klear," he introduced me. I pinched the bridge of my nose. Did he really just call me Krystal Klear? Like the phrase 'crystal clear'? "And I'm the Doctor."

"I think you'll find that _we're_ the Doctors here," she told him.

Sister Jatt came over to Matron Casp and told her, "Matron Casp, you're needed in intensive care."

"If you would excuse me," Matron Casp then told the Doctor and me. She gave the two of us a tight smile. I bit my lip, but nodded back at her along with the Doctor as she turned and walked away.

"Now what?" I quietly asked the Doctor once both nurses were out of sight.

He looked down at me and grinned, pulling out his glasses and placing them on his face as he did so. "Now, Krysty, we investigate! Come on!"

"Krystal," I growled through clenched teeth as he began to walk around the room.

I trailed after the Doctor and watched as he looked at every medicine that the ward had to offer the patients. He'd first gaze at the colored substance and then allow me to look at it too. The two of us would then observe the patient without making it look like we were openly staring. We didn't say anything to the other. I just didn't want to talk while the Doctor looked a little lost in his thoughts.

I crossed my arms over my chest and spotted Rose entering the ward about five minutes later. The Time Lord didn't notice her at first since he was looking at a bag of green medicine. When he started to walk away from the remedy, I quickly grabbed his arm and pointed over in Rose's direction. He grinned at her.

"There you are. Come and look at this patient," he told her. The Doctor gestured for her to come over towards us as he showed her one of the occupants of the ward. He pulled her and me close to him and murmured just loud enough for us to hear him. "Marconi's disease," he said, pulling off his spectacles. "Should take years to recover – two days. I've never seen anything like it. They've invented a cell-washing cascade. It's amazing. Their medical science is _way_ advanced."

"Too advanced," I murmured.

The Doctor released us and spun around. "And this one." He showed us one of the other patients in the room who quietly watched us from his bed. "Pallidome Pancrosis – kills you in ten minutes, and he's fine." The Time Lord then grinned at the patient and gave a quick wave. "Heh." When the patient couldn't see him, the Doctor's eyes quickly roamed the room. "I need to find a terminal. I've got to see how they do this."

The Doctor walked out of the ward leaving behind Rose and me. The two of us glanced at the other before following him into the hall.

The Doctor continued to speak as if he hadn't just left us. "'Cause if they've got the best medicine in the world, then why is it such a secret?"

"I can't Adam-and-Eve it," Rose replied.

"'Adam-and-Eve it'?" I repeated.

"What's – what's with the voice?" the Doctor asked her.

Rose turned towards him. "Oh, I don't know, just larking about New Earth. New me," she told him. I noticed that her eyes traveled slowly up his body before locking with his brown ones.

"Well, I can talk – new new Doctor," he chuckled with a grin. I smiled as well while rolling my eyes.

"Mm, aren't you just," she said to him in a seductive voice.

Rose then suddenly grabbed the back of his head and smashed their lips together in a ferocious kiss. Both of my eyebrows shot up and my eyes widened and turned violet in surprise. Rose continued to forcibly kiss him for a few seconds before finally pulling away, leaving a stunned Doctor. Rose pushed some of her hair out of her face while panting. The Time Lord continued to stare at her.

"T-T-Terminal's this way," the blonde Human stuttered, pointing in the direction of where the terminal was. She rubbed the back of her neck and walked off breathing deeply.

"Did she just kiss you?" I whispered.

The Doctor seemed to ignore me as he watched Rose walk off. "Yeah," he finally said in a high pitched voice. He started to follow after her as he ran a hand through his hair. "Still got it."

"Fan-flippin'-tastic," I muttered under my breath while walking after them. "Now I'm gonna have to live with the two of them givin' the other one bloody puppy dog eyes for the rest of my life."

When I got to the terminal, I found the Doctor and Rose examining it already. I moved up between Rose and the Time Lord and brought a hand to my chin as I quickly read what was on the screen.

"Nope, nothing odd," the Doctor said, now back to normal. "Surgery, post-op, nanodentistry," he read off the terminal's screen. "No sign of a shop. They should have a shop."

"We know, Doctor," I said, patting his shoulder. "You've said that already."

Rose moved over to the other side of the Doctor so she was closer to the terminal. "No, it's missing something else." The Doctor took a step back so he could make room for her and ended up stepping on my foot. I swore under my breath and smacked his arm. "When I was downstairs, those nurse/cat/nuns were talking about intensive care, but where is it?"

"You're right. Well done," the Doctor told her.

"Intensive care. That's the place that Sister Jatt needed Matron Casp at, Doctor," I said to him.

"You're right as well, Krysty," he then said to me.

"Thank you," I murmured. "…Krystal!"

"Why would they hide a whole department?" Rose asked us. "It's got to be there somewhere." The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his inner suit pocket and Rose continued without even looking at him. "Search the subframe."

"What if the subframe's locked?" the Time Lord inquired. He moved his sonic towards the screen.

Rose gave him a look as if he were an idiot. "Try the installation protocol."

The Doctor pressed his sonic against one of the frames on the screen. As the tip of the screwdriver glowed blue and let off a high pitched sound, he agreed, "Yeah, 'course. Sorry, hold on."

When the Doctor finished, a loud whirring sound came from the wall before it and the terminal lowered into the ground. The three of us stepped back as a dark secret passage appeared before us all. The Doctor and I gazed at it silently but Rose just smirked at it and marched forward. I noticed the Doctor's eyes watched her as she led the way. He then locked eyes with me and together he and I walked after her.

"Intensive care," he stated. "Certainly looks intensive."

"You could say that again," I said. "But why a secret passage? What is this hospital hiding?"

"Guess we'll just have to find out," the Doctor told me.

We followed Rose all the way down the passage until we ended up on a metal grating. Rose seemed quite confident as she kept lead. The Doctor and I continued to follow her as she led us then down some steps and to another platform which had rows and rows of green cubicles of some sort.

I placed my hands on the railing and looked out at all of the other green capsules that took up the entire room. I let off a low whistle. "Just look at this place."

"Krystal," the Doctor quietly said. I spun back around and ran after him and Rose.

The Doctor led us down the grating before finally stopping before one of the capsules. He raised his hand with the sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the lock mechanism on the door. The knob turned and let off a warning tone. The Doctor ignored the noise and wrenched open the door.

I froze up at the sight and my eyes turned sonic yellow in fear while Rose placed a hand over her mouth in slight disgust. I quivered and clenched the Doctor's arm tightly as I hid behind him. I peered around his body and gazed at what was inside along with the Doctor and Rose. It was a man dressed in a green hospital gown. He was covered in what appeared to be different illnesses.

"That's disgusting," Rose said. "What's wrong with him?"

The Doctor ignored her as he said to the man, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The man gazed back at the Time Lord as the Doctor slowly shut the door.

Rose followed along behind the Doctor as he took me over with him to the next capsule. My grip tightened as he pointed his sonic at the door and opened it the same way he had done with the other.

"Shh, Krystal," he murmured to me once the door was unlocked. "It's alright. I'm right here. There's nothing to be afraid of."

I whimpered as he pulled open the door and revealed the person inside, a woman, in the same shape as the man.

"What disease _is_ that?" Rose wondered.

"All of them," the Doctor told her. "Every single disease in the galaxy – they've been infected with everything."

"What about us? Are we safe?" Rose looked up at the Doctor.

"The air's sterile," he answered. "Just don't touch them." He then slowly closed the door and took a step back.

The Doctor moved over to the railing that looked out at all the containers in the room. I gulped and pressed myself even more against his body. Now that I knew what was in each capsule, more and more memories of the Impossible were starting to invade my head. The people from my planet who had been infected with the Impossible didn't exactly look like the test subjects in the containers, but they had worn the same facial expressions since they had slowly begun to forget who they were. Some Colorians were also put in capsules, just like the ones here, to keep them quarantined and others safe.

"I'm right here, Krystal," the Doctor murmured to me. "Pay attention to me and only me."

I gave a shaky nod and wrapped both of my arms around his one. "What's wrong with her?" Rose asked.

"She's just scared, is all," the Doctor explained to her. "Bad memories are being brought up from all that we're seeing."

Rose gazed at me before looking out at all the containers like the Doctor was doing. "How many patients are there?"

"They're not patients," the Doctor angrily replied back.

"But they're sick."

"They were born sick," he told her. "They're meant to be sick. They exist to be sick."

"Lab rats," I murmured, now remembering all the painful experiments that I had to go through just to become who I was today. Just to live while the others died.

The Doctor nodded. "No wonder the sisters have got a cure for everything. They've built the ultimate research laboratory – a human farm!"

"I t-told you I h-hated h-hospitals," I stuttered.

"Come on, Krystal," the Doctor murmured with a sympathetic look. He started to lead me back the way we had come.

Rose jogged after us. "Why don't they just die?"

"Plague carriers," he answered. We stopped in front of one of the containers and he gazed at it. "The last to go."

"It's for the greater cause," Novice Hame's voice said. We looked to our right and spotted the cat nurse walking slowly up to us.

"Novice Hame," the Doctor said, turning to her. "When you took your vows, did you agree to this?"

"The Sisterhood has sworn to help," she told us.

"What, by killing?!" he yelled.

"The lot of ya deserve to go to Hell for what you're doing to these innocent people!" I exclaimed.

"But they're not real people," Novice Hame tried to explain to us. "They're specially grown. They have no proper existence."

"What's the turnover, hmm?" the Doctor asked her, walking a few steps forward. Since I still clung to him, I moved with him slowly. Rose followed us. "Thousand a day? Thousand the next, thousand the next? How many thousand? For how many years? How many?!" he shouted. I flinched at his voice and how loud it had gotten.

"Mankind needed us," Novice Hame reasoned. "They came to this planet with so many illnesses, we couldn't cope. We did try. We tried everything. We tried using clone-meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow. So the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are – flesh."

"These people are alive," the Time Lord spat.

"But think of those humans out there – healthy and happy because of us."

"If they live because of this, then life is worthless," the Doctor said.

"But who are you to decide that?" Novice Hame asked.

The Time Lord took a menacing step towards her. "I'm the Doctor. And if you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, there isn't one – it stops with me." Novice Hame looked taken back at how straightforward he was. Blunt and right to the point.

Rose peered around me and looked over at the nurse. The Doctor turned and stared down at her. "Just to confirm – none of the Humans in the city actually know about this?"

"We thought it best not -" Novice Hame started to explain.

"Hold on." The Doctor looked at the cat nurse. "I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows. One thing I can't understand – what have you done to Rose?"

"I don't know what you mean," she answered him.

"And I'm being very, very calm," he told her. "You want to beware of that – very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing. Whatever you've done to Rose's head, I want it reversed."

"We haven't done anything," she said.

"She's telling the truth, Doctor," I murmured, soft enough that only he could hear me. "Just look at her. She's being truly sincere."

"I'm perfectly fine," Rose tried to tell him.

The Doctor ignored both her and me as he turned back to Novice Hame. "These people are dying, and Rose would care."

"Oh, all right, clever clogs," Rose said. She ripped me off of his arm and then pulled the Time Lord around so he was facing her. I fell backwards and landed harshly on my bottom. The Doctor gave me a quick glance before looking back at Rose. "Smarty pants," she added while pulling out his tie from beneath his suit. "Ladykiller," she breathed out.

"What's happened to you?" the Doctor asked her.

"I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body and your mind to find it out."

"Who are you?"

Rose pulled on the Doctor's tie so he leaned down a bit. She then stood up taller and breathed into his ear, "The last Human."

The Doctor gave her a confused look when she pulled back. "Cassandra?"

"Wake up and smell the perfume," Rose, Cassandra, told him. She lifted up a small bottle of perfume and spritzed some of it in front of his face. As soon as he breathed it in, his eyes closed and he fainted, landing against one of the capsules.

"Doctor!" I shouted. I scrambled over to him using my hands and knees and placed my head against his chest. I could still hear both his hearts but they weren't beating like they should. At least he wasn't dead though. "Who are you? What have you done to him?!" I demanded. I turned back around to face Cassandra and got myself my own spritz of perfume. My eyes then fluttered shut and I fell back against the Doctor as the darkness overtook me.

* * *

Thoughts?


	8. Chapter 7: The Doctor Is In

"Let us out!" the Doctor shouted. I gave a groan and rubbed at my head while my eyes fluttered open. Everything I saw was dark, but whatever my head was against rumbled as the Doctor shouted again. I think my head was shoved against his chest. Great…at least he was comfortable… "Let us out!"

I pulled away from the Doctor's chest and looked around at our surroundings. My heart speed went into double time when I figured out that he and I were stuck in one of the green capsules. I glanced up at the Time Lord with wide eyes and he looked back down at me.

"Aren't you lucky there was a spare?" Rose, or apparently, Cassandra said. I awkwardly looked over my shoulder and saw her walking up to the glass that separated us. "Standing room only."

"You've stolen Rose's body," the Doctor told her.

"Please let us out," I whimpered.

Cassandra ignored my words. "Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor. And now that's exactly what I've got – 1,000 diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every 10 minutes. The two of you've got about three minutes left. Enjoy."

"Just let Rose go, Cassandra," the Doctor said.

"I will, as soon as I find someone younger and…less common. Then, I'll junk her with the waste. Now, hush-a-bye, it's show-time."

Cassandra stepped away from our capsule when another voice greeted our ears. "Anything we can do to help?"

I couldn't see who it was, though, so I mumbled, "Who is it?"

"Sister Jatt and Matron Casp," the Doctor murmured back.

"Straight to the point, Whiskers – I want money," Cassandra told them.

"The Sisterhood is a charity," Matron Casp replied. "We don't give money. We only accept."

"The Humans across the water pay you a fortune. And that's exactly what I need. A one-off payment – that's all I want. Oh, and perhaps a yacht," Cassandra said. "In return for which, I will tell the city nothing of your institutional murder. Is that a deal?"

"I'm afraid not," Matron Casp answered back.

"I'd _really_ advise you to think about this."

"Oh, there's no need. I have to decline."

"What is she doing?" I muttered. I stared hard at the Doctor's chest as I tried to focus on him as well as Cassandra's and Matron Casp's words so I wouldn't look at the container the Time Lord and I were still trapped in.

"I'll tell them, and you've no way of stopping me," Cassandra threatened. "You're not exactly nuns with guns. You're not even armed."

"That idiot," I whispered.

"Who needs arms when we have claws?" Matron Casp asked.

I heard the cat nun growl and sighed when I knew that she had unsheathed her claws. It was nice knowin' ya, Rose.

"Well, nice try," Cassandra said. "Chip? Plan B!"

Plan B? I looked back over my shoulder and saw somebody, probably Chip, waddle forward and pull a lever towards him. A moment went by and the door to the Doctor's and my container opened. I sighed in great relief and quickly scrambled out. The Doctor followed me after a moment.

"Oh, my Goddess!" I shrieked when I noticed that the other capsules had been opened as well. Each sick person inside of the capsules was stepping out into the open.

The Doctor looked slightly surprised when he saw them all. "What have you done?" he demanded of Cassandra.

Cassandra turned back and looked at him. "Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake 'em up," she told him with a small smirk of accomplishment. "See ya!" Cassandra ran off down the hall with Chip trailing after her.

The Doctor, about ready to follow her, hurriedly grabbed my wrist and pulled me off the ground and to my feet. He then looked back at Sister Jatt and Matron Casp and shouted, "Don't touch them! Whatever you do, don't touch!" Without even a warning, the Doctor dragged me off with him after Cassandra.

When the two of us finally caught up with her and Chip, Cassandra looked out at all the other capsules with wide eyes. The Doctor placed his hands on the railing and stared at all the containers. I grabbed his arm and held on to him as the two of us watched as every container opened and the patients stepped out.

"Oh, my God," Cassandra mumbled.

"What the hell have you done?" the Doctor demanded of her.

"It wasn't me!" Cassandra protested.

"Shut up!" I glared over at her and my eyes changed to red. Cassandra flinched back in surprise.

"One touch, and you get every disease in the world," the Doctor explained. "And I want that body safe, Cassandra!"

"Doctor!" I warned, gripping his arm tighter. The sick Flesh were walking down the steps and getting closer to us.

"We've got to go down," the Time Lord said.

"But there's thousands of them!" Cassandra complained.

"Run!" the Doctor and I shouted at her in unison.

Cassandra screamed and started to run down the steps with Chip behind her. The Doctor pushed me ahead of him and shouted at us all, "Down! Down! Go down!"

As we started to run, a female voice overhead announced, "This building is under Quarantine."

The four of us continued to run down step after step like the Doctor had told us. Soon we ended up going through a doorway and pushing by some plastic containers that were filled with who knows what and were owned by the hospital.

We continued forward with Cassandra and Chip still in the lead. I came to a halt though, as well as the Doctor, when we saw Cassandra and Chip trying to get into one of the elevators. "No, the lifts have closed down," the Doctor told them. "That's the Quarantine. Nothing's moving."

"This way!" Cassandra ran past us while shouting. I ran after her with the Doctor on my heels and Chip taking up the rear.

After running for a minute, the Doctor and I spun around when we heard Chip wailing behind us. "Don't let them touch him!" the Time Lord shouted.

"Leave him!" Cassandra told him. "He's just a clone thing. He's only got a half-life. Come on!"

"Mistress!" Chip called in a scared voice. Cassandra ignored him and ran off down the hall she was leading us.

The Doctor looked back at Cassandra, me, and then Chip. "I'm sorry," he told Chip. "I can't let her escape!"

As the Doctor ran after Cassandra, Chip shouted, "My Mistress!"

"Doctor!" I screamed after the Time Lord. "Doctor!" I looked back at Chip when he began to back away from the Flesh. The look on his face made my heart want to tear in two, but what was I to do?

"Krystal!" the Doctor's voice floated down the hall back to me. "Come on! Hurry!"

"I'm so sorry," I told Chip. "Really, I am." I then ran down the hall that the Doctor and Cassandra had gone down.

Finally I caught up with them in a small room with pipes and containers scattered throughout. Cassandra went up to one of the other doors in the room and opened it. When she saw the Flesh on the other side, she immediately closed the door, spun back around, and pushed her way back through the plastic curtains while shouting, "We're trapped! What are we going to do?"

"Well, for starters, you're going to leave that body," the Doctor told her. He walked towards her and pointed over at the psychograft, that I was examining, with his sonic. "That psychograft is banned on every civilized planet. You're compressing Rose to death." Cassandra walked around him and the two of them basically switched places.

"But I've got nowhere to go," Cassandra said. "My original skin's dead."

"Not my problem," he told her. "You can float as atoms in the air. Now get out." The Time Lord brought his sonic screwdriver up and threateningly pointed it at Cassandra who turned to face him. "Give her back to me."

"You asked for it," Cassandra told him.

I crossed my arms and watched as a pink substance came out of Rose's mouth…and headed right towards me. "Bloody hell!" I exclaimed just before the pink stuff entered my mouth.

Everything went dark for a moment and I suddenly had no control over my body whatsoever. When I could see again, words came out of my mouth, but they weren't my words. "Everything's red!" My body walked forward towards the Doctor and Rose by control of Cassandra. "She must be a Colorian. Interesting."

The Doctor turned his sonic onto my body. "Cassandra, that is not what I meant. Get out!"

Cassandra walked my body up to the Doctor and had me smile up at him. "And why should I? I gave you Rose back, just like you asked."

"Get out!" he threatened her with narrowed eyes.

"I'd rather not," she breathed out. "Now I wonder…"

Don't you dare!

With no warning whatsoever, Cassandra forced my hands up and grabbed the Doctor's hair. My lips smashed against his and the Doctor was too stunned to even react.

As our lips stayed pressed against each other, I could feel the Doctor's emotions flood through my body. His anger, his sadness, his guilt, his joy, and many others; so many emotions that one man should never feel all at once, he had, and now so did I. And apparently so did Cassandra. My vision turned pitch black and my body stumbled back away from the Doctor. Cassandra gasped, though I might've too from how strong the Time Lord's emotions were.

"What a rush," Cassandra mumbled. "But not exactly the most pleasant experience. I don't really wish to be stuck inside of a body that can't even touch someone else."

The Doctor quickly got over his shock of being kissed twice in one day and angrily brought his sonic screwdriver back up and pointed it at me, I mean Cassandra, I mean us! Goddess, I'm confusing myself…

"Cassandra, get out of Krystal's body right this instance," he angrily told her.

"If you insist," she sneered. The next moment the pink substance of Cassandra floated from my mouth. I gasped once she was out of my body. Slowly I began to gain control of my limbs again.

I groaned and sat down onto the floor once I was finally able to. I grasped at my head. I had a killer headache that was pounding inside of my noggin. Not only was being compressed to death painful, but I still had the Doctor's and Cassandra's emotions floating inside of me.

"Krystal…" Rose trailed off.

"What? What is it, Rose?" I mumbled whilst rubbing my temples.

"Ooh, my. This is…different."

I looked up slowly at the Doctor. "You have got to be bloody kidding me!" I shouted. Cassandra was inside of the Doctor's body now? Really?

Rose gave the Doctor, excuse me, Cassandra a horrified look. "Cassandra?"

Cassandra moved about the room with a wide smile on the Doctor's face and his arms bent at the elbows. "Goodness me, I'm a man. Yum! So many parts, and hardly used." Cassandra suddenly gasped. "Ah, ah! Two hearts. Oh, baby! I'm beating out a samba," Cassandra exclaimed while moving her bent arms to the beat of her 'samba' hearts.

I face-palmed. "This is _so_ wrong on _so_ many levels."

"Get out of him," Rose ordered Cassandra.

Cassandra ignored her while she ran one of the Doctor's hands down his chest. "Ooh, he's slim, and a little bit foxy." Cassandra looked up at us and gave a mischievous smile. "The two of you thought so, too."

I snapped my head around and stared up at her. "What?! I don't think he's any of those things!"

"Don't deny it, darlin'," she told me. "I've been inside your heads." The Doctor's brown eyes flickered over to me before turning to Rose. She grinned at the blonde and walked up to her. I stood to my feet and crossed my arms while narrowing my eyes. "You've been looking." Cassandra leaned in towards Rose and her smile grew. "You _like_ it."

Rose's eyes darted over and locked with mine for a split second just before the sick Flesh finally made their way into the room we were in. I jumped back away from them and closer to Rose and Cassandra. My eyes flashed yellow for a moment before returning to blue. "Not good."

Cassandra repeatedly slapped Rose's arm in fear. "What do we do? What would he do? The Doctor, what the hell would he do?"

"Maybe if you left his body we'd know," I growled at her.

As the Flesh grew ever closer, Rose looked behind us. "Ladder. We've got to get up," she told us.

Cassandra and I both looked back at the ladder that Rose was talking about. I grinned. "Brilliant, Rose," I told her.

I went to take a step towards the ladder, but Cassandra pushed past Rose and me. "Out of the way, Blondies!"

I growled at Cassandra as she started to climb up the ladder. I darted after her with Rose bringing up the rear. The Flesh stumbled after us moaning, "Help us. Please. Help us. Help."

"Help with what?" I murmured to myself as I climbed after Cassandra.

The three of us climbed for several minutes. When we neared the end of our climb, Rose called up to Cassandra, "If you get out of the Doctor's body, he can think of something."

"Now, now, now," Cassandra mocked her, looking back over the Doctor's shoulder to look down at us. "God, it was tedious inside your head – hormone city," she told Rose. She then directed the Doctor's eyes to lock with mine. "Your head was just plain confusing. There was so much stuff going on in there that I couldn't keep track of what was true and what was false or what was memory and what was your imagination." A serious expression came onto the Doctor's face and his eyebrows scrunched together. "Are you really only 41?"

"Is now really the time for Twenty Questions?" I demanded. "Keep climbing before the Flesh catch up. Or better yet, get out of the Doctor's body already so none of us have to die!" Cassandra rolled the Doctor's eyes at me, but continued to climb up. I cursed at her under my breath and followed.

"We're gonna die if -," Rose began. She then cut herself off with a loud shriek. I looked back at her and saw Matron Casp grasping Rose's ankle. "Get off!" the blonde shouted at the nurse. She shook her foot in hopes of shaking the cat off.

"All our good work, all that healing, the good name of the Sisterhood – you have destroyed everything!" Matron Casp told her.

"She's gone bonkers," I muttered.

"Go and play with a ball of string," Cassandra told the nun.

Matron Casp ignored Cassandra and me. "Everywhere – disease!" she told Rose. "This is the Human world -"

Matron Casp suddenly released Rose when one of the Flesh came up under her and grabbed her own ankle. The nurse let off a pained cry as she became infected with every disease that existed in the world. She then let go of the ladder and fell all the way down to the bottom, her screams echoing the entire way down. I hurriedly averted my eyes and looked back at the Doctor's form.

"Move!" Rose ordered Cassandra once Matron Casp hit bottom. Cassandra gave off some wailing noises, but she obeyed and scurried up the ladder. I hurried after her along with Rose.

When we finally reached the top, Cassandra urgently pounded a hand against the closed doors on the wall. "Now what do we do?" she asked, looking back at us when the doors didn't budge.

"Use the sonic screwdriver," Rose told her.

"In the Doctor's pocket," I added. "Quickly!"

Cassandra reached into the Doctor's inner suit jacket pocket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. She dangled it between two fingers as if it were going to bite her. "You mean this thing?"

"Yes, I mean that thing," Rose said.

"Well, I don't know how – that Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts," Cassandra complained.

"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered.

"Cassandra, go back into me. The Doctor can open it," Rose told her. Cassandra only continued to stare down at Rose. "Do it!" Rose angrily shouted at her.

Cassandra wrapped the arm holding the sonic around a rung of the ladder. "Hold on tight." Her pink form then exited the Doctor's mouth, went by me, and straight into Rose.

Once Cassandra was in Rose's body, she said, "Oh, chavtastic again." Then to the Doctor, she ordered, "Open it!"

The Doctor, now back to himself, stood nice and tall on the rung above me. He held onto the ladder with one hand and had his sonic pointed determinedly down at Cassandra with the other. "Not 'til you get out of her," he told her.

"You've got to be kidding me," I grumbled. "Just give me the bloody screwdriver and I'll save us all this trouble."

"We need the Doctor!" Cassandra yelled.

"I order you to leave her!" he exclaimed back at her.

"Being killed by every disease in the world was not how I wished to end my life, Doctor!" I angrily told the Time Lord. Couldn't he yell at Cassandra when we _weren't_ in mortal danger?

"I'll open the doors as soon as she leaves Rose's body," he said without looking at me.

"Of course you will," I muttered.

Cassandra's pink form then suddenly rushed into my mouth and I almost released the ladder from shock. Like before, everything went black for a moment. When I was able to see once again, I couldn't move nor talk.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed more. "That is not what I said, Cassandra."

Cassandra raised one of my eyebrows at him and clenched the ladder's rung tighter. "You told me to get out of Rose, so I did. Now I'm in this Colorian body instead. You never said I couldn't enter another's. Now open the doors already!"

"You are not allowed in Krystal's body, Cassandra. You're only giving her body more emotions that it has to cope with," he told her in a warning tone. "Now, get out!"

Cassandra rolled my eyes. "Fine, but only because it's so crowded in here." My hands tightened even more on the ladder before Cassandra escaped through my parted lips.

Once I regained the ability to move and speak again, Cassandra, now back in the Doctor's body, said, "No matter how difficult the situation, there is no need to shout."

"Cassandra, get out of him!" Rose and I growled angrily at her.

"But if I go into either of you, he simply refuses. He's so rude," Cassandra argued.

"We don't care," Rose told her. "Just do something."

"Now!" I added loudly.

The Doctor's face scrunched up in disgust. "Oh, I am _so_ gonna regret this," Cassandra said. Her pink form flew out of the Doctor's mouth, went past both Rose and me, and entered one of the Flesh below us.

I shuddered. "That's horrid."

"Oh, sweet lord!" Cassandra shouted whilst staring at the Flesh's skin. "I look disgusting!"

The sound of the sonic screwdriver buzzed above me. I looked back up at the Doctor as he got the two doors open and hopped through them. He looked back down at Rose and me with a small smile.

He stuck out a hand to help us through. "Nice to have you both back." I took his hand with a smile of my own and allowed the Time Lord to pull me up and through the doors. Once I was standing beside him, the Doctor reached his hand out again. Rose accepted it and he pulled her through as well.

"Bloody hell!" I scrambled quickly out of the way when Cassandra's pink form flew up out of the Flesh's body and re-entered Rose, knocking her onto the floor. She landed against the wall and started breathing heavily. The Doctor sonic-ed the two doors shut before turning angrily on Cassandra.

"That was your last warning, Cassandra!" he yelled at her.

"Doctor," I murmured when I saw the look on Rose's face.

Cassandra stared at the wall beside my head with a blank look in Rose's eyes. I tilted my head slightly to the side back at her in confusion. "Inside her head…they're so alone," Cassandra breathed. "They keep reaching out, just to hold us. All their lives, and they've never been touched."

The Doctor reached out a hand towards Cassandra. She looked up at him and then studied his hand before finally grasping it. He helped pulled her to her feet while I rose to my own as well and brushed myself off.

I ran a hand down my face and sighed softly. "It must be so horrible for them, never being able to touch another," I murmured. "I can easily understand better than anyone the pain they must be going through right now. It's not fun."

The Time Lord wrapped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed gently just as pounding came from the doors behind us. The three of us looked back at the rattling doors. The Doctor's eyes flickered at each door for a second before he pulled me along with him forward and down the hall. When we reached the end, the Doctor pointed his sonic at the door. The door gave a click and he pushed it open. We all stepped through.

Somehow we ended up back in Ward 26. Novice Hame saw us and immediately backed away. I glared my red eyes at her, but then I quickly looked away as my eyes slowly returned to normal as I recalled the conversation we had held earlier. The one about the Doctor.

The woman from earlier who had been with the Duke of Manhattan, Frau Clovis, came charging at the three of us with a chair in her hands. She gave off a loud battle cry the closer she got.

The Doctor quickly brought up his empty hand in a halt motion. "We're safe. We're safe," he told her. Frau stopped and stared at us through her spectacles. "We're clean. We're clean. Look. Look!" Cassandra started to show Frau Rose's hands to help prove the Doctor's point.

"Show me your skin," she told us. She then locked eyes with me since I had my arms crossed over my chest with gloves covering my hands. "Especially you."

The Doctor nudged me in the ribs with his elbow before showing his own hands to the crazed woman. "Look, clean. Look!"

I grumbled, but reluctantly pulled off my gloves and showed Frau my bare hands. "We don't even look sick."

"If we'd been touch, we'd be dead," the Doctor told her.

Frau studied each one of us once more before finally lowering her chair and placing it onto the floor beside her. I rolled my eyes and pulled my gloves back on.

The Doctor placed his sonic screwdriver back into his inner pocket. "So, how's it going up here? What's the status?"

"There's nothing but silence from the other wards," Frau replied. "I think we're the only ones left."

I flinched. "All those people…and no survivors? That's terrible."

Frau walked forward towards us. "But I've been trying to override the Quarantine." She pulled a device out of her pocket and the Doctor, Cassandra, and I tried to look at it as Frau walked between the three of us. "If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad."

"You can't do that," the Time Lord told her. "If they forced entry, they'd break Quarantine."

Frau walked back through us. "I am not dying in here!"

"And I will not allow you to kill anyone out there!" I yelled at her whilst pointing behind us and at the windows. I narrowed my eyes at her. "You're not worth it. What makes you better than all those people out there? Huh? Answer me!"

"Krystal," the Doctor murmured. He placed a hand on my chest to stop me. "I'll handle this." I averted my eyes away from him, feeling ashamed of myself for getting so worked up. My eyes were glowing bright red and, when I touched my pendant on my choker, it burned my skin.

When did I start getting so emotional? I think I've been around the Humans too long…

"We can't let a single particle disease get out," the Doctor said to Frau angrily. He pointed at the window himself. "There is 10 million people in that city. They'd all be at risk. Now, turn that off!"

I scrunched my eyebrows up in confusion and looked up at the Doctor. He basically shut me up just so he could yell at Frau Clovis himself. What the bloody hell?

"Not if it gets me out," Frau snarled back.

"All right, fine." The Time Lord looked around the room as he added, "So I have to stop you lot as well – suits me."

"I'm in," I grinned.

"Now, Rose, Krystal, Novice Hame, everyone – excuse me, your grace -," the Doctor ran over to the Duke of Manhattan and pulled out his sonic. "Get me the intravenous solutions for every single disease. Move it!"

I ran over to the nearest bags of medicine and began to stuff them into the Doctor's jacket that I still wore. I have no idea how, but it was as if the pockets were bigger on the inside. I already had at least five bags in each pocket and neither one was quite full yet. Maybe it was a Time Lord thing or something?

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver buzzed and I looked over my shoulder at him. I caught him just as he was taking down one of the metal things that hung from the ceiling. I had no idea what it was called or why it was needed, but I wasn't going to ask questions when lives were at stake.

"Toss me that rope, Krystal," the Doctor called over to me. I grabbed the rope that he was talking about and tossed it over to him. He gave me a nod of thanks while he started to wrap the rope around him. He crisscrossed it around his neck and then tied it tightly around his stomach.

Cassandra rushed over to the Doctor and started to help him tie the bags of medicine to his rope. I patted the medicine in my pockets and walked over to the two of them.

"How's that? Will it do?" he asked us, indicating to his rope.

"I don't know. Will it do for what?" Cassandra said.

"Knowing your plan would be slightly helpful, Doctor," I added, crossing my arms.

The Time Lord ran past us and over to the elevator doors. He opened the doors with his sonic screwdriver. Cassandra trailed after him whilst yelling, "The lifts aren't working!"

"What is going through that brilliant head of yours, Doctor?" I murmured under my breath. I slowly walked over and stood beside Cassandra.

The Doctor leaned forward and looked down the elevator's dark and empty shaft. Cassandra and watched him, me with a raised eyebrow. "Not moving – different thing," he told her.

The Time Lord ran past us and stood in front of the windows, which was at least a good couple of feet away from the lift. He slid the metal thing onto his arm. "Here we go." He then placed his screwdriver between his teeth.

Cassandra and I watched the Doctor as he got a running start. "You're not going to -," Cassandra started to say.

The Doctor jumped into the lift. I blinked at where he had just been standing in surprise before running over to the lift. I released the breath I hadn't known I had been holding when I spotted the mad Time Lord hanging onto the metal cord in the middle of the shaft. I shook my head at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Cassandra demanded.

"I'm going down," he replied in a muffled voice because of his sonic.

"You look ridiculous," I told him. The Doctor glanced over at me while he took off the metal thing from his wrist and hooked it onto the metal cord. He then took his sonic from his mouth and used it to lock the metal thing into place.

He looked back at us. "Come on."

"You expect all three of us to go down on that thing?" I asked him.

"Yeah," he replied. "Now jump."

"Death by elevator…not really the best way to go," I sighed. "But fine. Hold on tight, Doctor."

I moved a few steps back, took a deep breath, quickly prayed that I wouldn't die, and then ran towards the empty lift. I jumped once I was a step away from falling down the shaft and grabbed the Doctor. My arms tightly gripped his neck while my legs wrapped around his waist.

The Doctor looked down at me with a wide smile. "Hello."

"H-Hello," I answered.

Don't look down, don't let go. Don't look down, don't let go.

The Doctor turned back to Cassandra. "Your turn."

"Ha! Not in a million years."

"Krystal and I are going to need another pair of hands, even though Krystal's shaking like a Chihuahua."

"I'm right here, you know!" I shouted at him.

He ignored me. "What do you think?" When Cassandra didn't move, he added, "If you're so desperate to stay alive, why don't you live a little?"

"Seal the doors," Frau ordered.

Cassandra looked back alarmed at, most likely, the Flesh that had entered the room.

"Jump already!" I shouted at her.

"Ohhh!" Cassandra shrieked. She took a few steps back and ran towards the elevator before jumping. I yelped when the cord shook from her momentum. I pushed my head against the Doctor's chest and tightened my grip on him. He laughed at me when my eyes turned sonic yellow from fear and lit up the empty elevator shaft.

"It's not funny!" I yelled at him.

"You're completely mad!" Cassandra shouted. She had her arms wrapped around his neck like me, except she hung off of his back while I was on his front. The Doctor ignored her as he looked down below.

"Agreed," I said.

"I can see why they like you."

"Not agreed!"

"Going down," the Time Lord said. He messed with the metal thing that was keeping us in place. The next moment we were all sliding down the cord. Sparks flew from how fast the metal thing was rubbing against the cord as we went down.

I admit that the ride was terrifying. I also admit that I screamed along with Cassandra. The Doctor on the other hand was enjoying every second. His two hearts were beating rapidly from the adrenaline that was rushing through his veins.

Finally we reached the bottom. I jumped off of the Doctor and quickly checked my pockets. All the medicine was still there. I grinned at the Time Lord.

"Well, that's one way to lose weight," Cassandra said while fixing Rose's shirt.

I blew some hair out of my face. "I'll stick to jogging, thank you."

"Now, listen – when I say so, take hold of that lever," the Doctor told Cassandra as he pointed at the lever he was referring to.

Why was I even here again? Oh, that's right. To be the third wheel! Even when Rose is taken over by some psycho chick, she _still_ gets to be important!

"There's still a Quarantine down there," Cassandra tried to argue. "We can't –"

"Hold that lever!" he shouted at her. I covered my mouth to hide my smile. The Doctor turned back to the container of water in front of him. "Come on, Krystal. We're cooking up a cocktail."

I gave him a two finger salute. "Aye, aye, Doctor!"

The Time Lord grabbed at one of the bags of medicine strapped to his chest. He tossed it in the air and caught it with a grin. "I know a bit about medicine myself." He ripped open the bag with his teeth and squirted all of it into the container. "What about you, Krysty?" he asked once the bag was empty.

My lips turned up at the corners when I realized what he was exactly doing. For such a mad man, he was so clever.

"Oh, yes, Doctor," I answered. I moved beside him and pulled out a bag of medicine from the pocket of the Doctor's jacket. "I definitely know my medicines. Just one of the small advantages of being from the year six billion." I ripped the medicine I held with my teeth and poured it all into the container with a loud laugh. "And my name's Krystal!"

Together the Doctor and I opened and poured all the bags of medicine that we held. The process took only a few minutes. As the Doctor poured the remaining bag of medicine into the container, I took the rope off of him and tossed it to one of the corners of the shaft.

"Now, that lever's going to resist," he told Cassandra. "But keep it in position." The Time Lord ran back to the cord and opened the door at his feet. "Hold onto it with everything you've got."

"What about you," she asked whilst looking back at him confused.

"I've got an appointment," he answered with half of his body through the door. "The Doctor is in." He then dropped straight down into the elevator with his arms pressed against his sides.

I scrambled over to the door and looked down. I frowned when all I could see was the Doctor's head. "Where are you going?" Cassandra asked when I placed my fedora next to me.

"Nowhere," I told her, just before sticking my head down into the elevator.

"Hello, Krystal," he said while pointing his sonic at the lift's double doors.

"Hello, Doctor," I answered back. I pulled my hair into a ponytail so I could see him better.

The lift's doors opened and the Doctor took a step back while pocketing his screwdriver. The Flesh all looked up at him and slowly began to rise to their feet. I bit my lip and hoped that the plan worked.

"I'm in here," the Doctor told the Flesh. "Come on!"

"Don't tell them!" Cassandra yelled at him.

"Pull that lever!" the Time Lord scolded her, his eyes quickly darting up to look at where Cassandra would be. He returned his attention back to the Flesh when they began to make their way towards the elevator that he was in. "Come and get me. Come on. I'm in here. Come on."

"Commence state one – Disinfection," the female intercom voice announced.

"Hurry up, come on," the Doctor told the Flesh as the Disinfection sprayed from the walls of the lift. I brought my hands up and cupped my eyes so I didn't get as much of the liquid in my eyes. "Come on, come on." Some of the Flesh slowly entered the elevator and got drenched in the medicine that was spraying from every angle. "All they want to do is pass it on," the Doctor shouted, now drenched to the bone. He started to jump up and down with excitement. "Pass it on!"

I laughed while Cassandra just asked, "Pass on what? Pass on what?"

"Pass it on!" the Doctor and I shouted together in unison. We both wore huge smiles.

I watched, though it was all upside down, as the Flesh that had gotten sprayed with the medicine walked out of the elevator and began to touch the other sick Flesh. Each time skin made contact of any kind, a sizzling noise sounded and steam instantly rose from the skin, showing that the medicine was indeed starting to take effect.

"You did it, Doctor," I told him with a laugh. "You did it! You saved them. All of them!"

"Did what?" Cassandra asked.

"Oh, you'll see," I answered her. The Doctor looked up at me and gave me the biggest grin ever, lighting up the entire room. It made me feel warm inside by just looking at him being so happy.

The Flesh continued to 'pass it on', as the Doctor had called it, healing the others around them. It really was a brilliant sight.

I grabbed my fedora when the Doctor reached his hands up for me. He helped me down as soon as the Disinfectant stopped spraying the medicine. I instantly pulled him into a tight embrace. He lifted me up in the air as he returned my hug and spun me around. Once he released me, I took a step back so he could reach up and help Cassandra get down.

"What did they pass on?" Cassandra asked when her feet were on the floor. I grimaced when I placed my fedora onto my wet head. Water dripped off of my hair and down my back, causing me to shiver slightly. "Did you kill them, all of them?"

The Doctor looked back at her and shook his head. "No," he told her. He returned his attention to the Flesh. "That's your way of doing things." He then walked out of the lift and I followed after him eagerly. Cassandra still seemed confused. "I'm the Doctor, and I cured them."

"Oh, you clever Time Lord," I murmured. "Yes you did."

One of the girls of the group of Flesh walked up to the Doctor and gave him a hug. "Oh, that right," he told her, wrapping his own arms around her. "Hey, hey. There we go, sweetheart." When she pulled back, the Doctor grinned down at her. "You're okay." I smiled at the girl as the Doctor pushed her off into a certain direction. "Go on, that's it, that's it."

"Goddess, this is amazing," I said. I cupped the girl's face when she passed by me. "You healed all of them." I gave the girl a smile and pulled my hand back so she could continue to pass by.

The Doctor placed his hands on one of the Flesh's shoulders. "It's a new subspecies, Cassandra," he told her. He began to move around the lot. "A brand-new form of life. New Humans! Look at them, look!" The Doctor bent down in front of one of the females, giving her a large smile. "Grown by cats, kept in the dark, fed by tubes, but completely, _completely_ alive!" he shouted.

"Brilliant!" I exclaimed.

The Time Lord pointed up at Cassandra. "You can't deny them 'cause you helped create them." The Doctor turned to another Flesh, pardon, Human. "The Human race just keeps on going, keeps on changing. Life will out!" He looked back at us and exclaimed, "Ha!"

"Ha!" I copied him.

* * *

Since all the Flesh/Humans were cured now, we were able to turn the Quarantine off so the NNYPD could get into the building without breaking it themselves. The Doctor and I explained everything that had happened to them and that it wasn't the Flesh/Human's faults. The Doctor then continued on telling the police that they were going to need to be cared for. The police pronounced in the end, after we finished explaining, that all the staff were to taken into custody while the Flesh/Humans were to be catalogued and then taken into care.

The Doctor, with his suit jacket off so it could dry, led us through the halls. In one of the wards, a police officer walked past us with Novice Hame in his custody. She looked back at us with a sorry look in her eyes as she was taken away.

A look of realization suddenly crossed the Doctor's face. "The Face of Boe!" he shouted. He ran back the way we had just come from with Cassandra following at a slower pace. I sighed and then ran after both of them.

When we finally got up to Ward 26, the Doctor pulled on his suit jacket as we rounded the corner and walked up to the Face of Boe. He smiled at the other alien as he buttoned his jacket. I walked beside the Time Lord and waved at the now awake Face of Boe. He blinked back at me.

"You were supposed to be dying," the Doctor told him.

_There are better thing to do today,_ the Face of Boe replied back telepathically. _Dying can wait._

I laughed. "That's a good reason not to die. I like that."

"Oh, I hate telepathy," Cassandra said. "Just what I need – a head full of big face."

The Doctor and I gave her irritated looks. "Shh!"

_I had grown tired with the universe, Doctor, but you have taught me to look at it anew._

The Doctor moved closer to the other alien's glass container. "There are legends, you know, saying that you're millions of years old." He bent down so he could see eye-to-eye with the Face of Boe.

_Well, now, that would be impossible_, the Face of Boe answered.

"Wouldn't it just?" the Doctor asked. He then said in a serious voice, "I got the impression there was something you wanted to tell me."

_A great secret._

"So the legend says."

_It can wait_, the Face of Boe told him.

"Oh, does it have to?" the Doctor asked.

_We shall meet again, Doctor, for the third time – for the last time – and the truth shall be told. Until that day._ A blue light then enveloped the Face of Boe. The next second, he was gone.

"That is enigmatic," the Doctor said with slight awe. "That – that is – that is textbook enigmatic." The Time Lord then rose to his feet and walked up to Cassandra. "And now for you."

"But everything's happy," she tried to tell him. "Everything's fine. Can't you just leave me?"

"Because everything's happy and fine that gives you the right to stay in Rose's body?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "What a horrible reason."

"You've lived long enough," the Doctor told her. "Leave that body and end it, Cassandra."

And here come the waterworks…great…

"I don't want to die," she cried.

"No one does," the Doctor told her.

"Help me!"

"I can't."

"Mistress!" The three of us looked over towards the doors and saw Chip making his way to us.

Cassandra gasped. "Oh, you're alive."

"I kept myself safe, for you, Mistress."

A look came into Rose's eyes. "A body," Cassandra murmured. "And not just that – a volunteer."

"Don't you dare," the Doctor said whilst pointing a finger dangerously at her. "He's got a life of his own."

Chip glared at the Doctor. "But I worship the Mistress," Chip yelled at him. "I welcome her."

Cassandra grinned at the Doctor. "You can't, Cassandra. You –"The Doctor's warning fell on deaf ears as Cassandra exited Rose's body and entered Chip's. The Time Lord quickly rushed forward and caught Rose as she fell towards the floor. "Ooh, you all right?" he asked her. He brought her into a standing-ish position just before she fell over again. "Whoa!" He brought her back up once more. "Okay?"

Rose had to catch her breath for a moment before she could reply. "Yeah." She then smiled at him. "Hello."

The Doctor smiled back at her. "Hello. Welcome back."

I averted my eyes.

"Oh, sweet lord, I'm a walking doodle," Cassandra, now in Chip's body, said while showing Chip's hands to prove her point.

"You can't stay in there," the Doctor told her. "I'm sorry, Cassandra, but that's not fair. I can take you to the city, they can build you a skin tank, and you can stand trial for what you've done."

Cassandra gave the Time Lord an uninterested look. "Well, that would be rather dramatic, possibly my finest hour. And certainly my finest hat." Cassandra looked over at Rose while bringing a hand up to touch Chip's hat. Rose glanced down with a small smile. "But I'm afraid we don't have time. Well, poor little Chip is only a half-life, and he's been through so much. His heart is racing so." Cassandra frowned slightly and looked at each of us. "He's failing." She placed a hand on Chip's hip. "I don't think he's going to last –"

Cassandra suddenly collapsed to Chip's knees. The Doctor, Rose, and I each grabbed ahold of Chip before Cassandra hit the floor.

"Oh. You all right?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm fine," Cassandra said, placing a hand against Chip's heart. Realization then suddenly hit her. "I'm dying." She gave a small, unsure smile. "But that's fine."

"I can take you to the city," the Time Lord told her.

"No, you won't," Cassandra said. "Everything's new on this planet. There's no place for Chip and me anymore." I placed a hand comfortingly on Chip's shoulder and squeezed gently. "You're right, Doctor. It's time to die." I moved my hand and rubbed circles on Chip's back. "That's good."

We helped Cassandra rise to Chip's feet. "Come on, there's one last thing I can do," the Doctor told her. He and Rose helped lead Cassandra forward by the arms while I stayed behind them all just in case.

* * *

The Doctor, now with his trench coat on since I didn't really need it anymore, landed the TARDIS. Cassandra, Rose, and I followed outside. Cassandra had been given a dark cloak by the Time Lord to wear in order to not be recognized, though I wasn't sure who was really going to recognize her while she was in Chip's body.

"Oh, no don't! Stop it!" we heard a woman say. I entered the room behind Rose and stared, along with the others, at who was talking. The woman was surrounded by other people. She looked about middle-aged with blonde curly hair. She wore a stunning silver dress that I really loved and wished I had. The woman giggled. "That's simply not true. Tiny – Egypt was so dismal. And the mosquitoes –"

Cassandra turned to the Doctor with a smile. "Thank you," she said.

"Just go," he told her. "And don't look back."

"Good luck," Rose said with a smile of her own.

I nodded. "What Rose said." Cassandra returned my nod before turning around and making her way over to the woman. I leaned across Rose and murmured to the Doctor, "Who's that woman? Why did we bring Cassandra here?"

The Doctor looked back at me. "That's Cassandra when she still had a body," he murmured back. My eyes grew wide and I blinked up at him.

When I turned back to Cassandra and her younger self, Cassandra told the other one, "Excuse me, milady Cassandra."

"I'm sorry, I  
don't need anything right now," the younger one replied instantly. "I'm fine, thank you."

She went to walk away, but Cassandra quickly said to her, "No, I just wanted to say you look beautiful."

The younger Cassandra turned back to the one in Chip's body. "Well, that's very kind, you strange little thing. Thank you very much."

"I mean it," our Cassandra said. She took a step closer to her younger self. "You look so beautiful."

The younger Cassandra stared at the other. "Thank you."

Our Cassandra then exhaled sharply before falling over. The younger version quickly bent down and grabbed Chip's body. "Oh, my lord. Are you all right? What is it? What's wrong? Someone get some help. Call a medic or something. Quickly!"

"Who is he?" someone asked her.

"I don't know," Cassandra replied. "He just came up to me. I don't even know his name. He just collapsed. I think he's dying! Someone do something!" She looked back down at Chip and held his body tightly to hers. "I've got you, sweetheart. It's all right. There you are. There you are. I've got you. It'll be all right. There, there, you poor little thing."

The Doctor lightly touched Rose's and my arms and gestured for us to leave. Rose walked by me and out of the room first with the Time Lord following her, but he stayed behind when he saw that I wasn't moving.

"Are you coming, Krystal?" he asked me.

I ripped my attention from Cassandra and her younger self and looked over at the Doctor for a few seconds. With a small smile, I cupped his cheek and pressed my lips against his forehead. I pulled away before his emotions could really affect me.

He blinked at me. "What was that for?"

"For doing this," I told him while gesturing over towards both Cassandras. "And for just being a good man." With a small smile, I brushed past him and towards the awaiting TARDIS.

* * *

**Here's an extra long chapter to apologize for not updating in a while. Also, I've finally finished the episode. Yes! I hope I didn't confuse anyone with the whole Cassandra body switching stuff. I confused myself a little bit near the beginning, lol. Comments would be nice, please and thank you.**


	9. Chapter 8: Chroma

"Krystal?"

I leaned against the railing and cocked my head at Rose. "Yeah?"

The blonde leaned against the control console right across from me. "What happened to your fear of hospitals? You seemed a lot better near the end there."

I scratched the back of my head. "Well, you see, I guess I just got so furious with Cassandra and the hospital for what they were doing that my fear kinda got buried in the end under all my rage." I sighed. "Anger is a powerful thing, Rose. You should never let it or any other emotion control you. I should know better than anyone about that being a Colorian and all."

Rose nodded. She then looked over at the Doctor and asked, "So, where are we headin' now?"

The Doctor locked his brown eyes with mine. I gulped and silently gripped the railing. "Chroma," he said softly. "Just like I promised, Krystal."

"Chroma?" Rose asked intrigued.

"My home planet," I explained to her. I wiped a stray tear from my face. "Where I was born and raised."

"We don't have to go yet if you're not ready," the Time Lord murmured when he saw my tears. "We can go anywhere else. Your pick."

I shook my head. "It's now or never, Doctor. If I don't get this over with now then I probably never will, I'll always chicken out. I'm ready for this."

He nodded and gave a small comforting smile. "Hold on tight, then, Krystal, Rose." The Doctor began to run around the console flipping levers, pushing buttons, and doing who knows what else. "Chroma here we come!"

* * *

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS followed by me and then Rose. Rose sucked in her breath at the sight around us as she shut the door. The Doctor took a big whiff of the air before announcing, "Here we are, you two. Chroma, year 6 billion and 105." He then looked down at me. "It's been two months since the Impossible faded away and the last of your kind was killed." I nodded in understanding.

The Doctor had landed us in the Silver Forest, named for it's silver leaves, like I had told him to. We were only a short walking distance away from the city where I had been born in. It would probably take us about half an hour at the most to get there.

I glanced around at the forest and felt more tears start to dribble down my face. An arm instantly wrapped around my shoulders. I looked up and saw it connected to the Doctor. He gave me a small smile.

Rose walked up to one of the trees. She grabbed at one of the leaves and rubbed it between her thumb and forefinger with a small smile. "This place is so beautiful. How are the leaves silver?" she asked, looking over at the Doctor and me. She blinked in surprise at the two of us but shook her head, mentally shaking it off.

"I have no idea, Rose. No one does. They've always been silver. They're just one of the many mysteries of Chroma, I guess."

"Try pulling the leaf off," the Time Lord told her.

Rose turned back to the leaf and gave it a gentle tug. It easily came off of the tree and Rose held it delicately in her hands. A few seconds went by before the leaf slowly turned green, just like a leaf on Earth. Rose stared down at the leaf stunned before turning back to us in disbelief.

I shrugged at her unasked question. "Like I said. One of the many mysteries of Chroma."

"The grass is silver too, Rose," the Doctor chuckled.

Rose looked down at the grass with a wide smile. She knelt down onto one knee and placed a palm against the grass. "It's warm."

"If it's warm enough for you and the Doctor to be here then it must be winter," I explained.

Rose looked up at me. "Winter? You're kidding me."

"Chroma has two suns, Rose," I told her. "This place can get about twice as warm as Earth."

"She's right," the Doctor added. "The only way you would be able to survive is during winter since you would never be able to make it through any of the other seasons. You'd burn up. Colorians though have adapted to hot temperatures which is why they are able to live here and withstand the heat."

"Doesn't it ever get cold here though?" Rose asked me.

I wrapped my arms around my stomach when a breeze went by. "To me, this is cold, Rose. What feels cold to me is warm to you, but what feels cold for you is freezing for me," I explained. I then sighed and glanced up at the Doctor. "Come on. Let's get this over with." I pulled out of the Time Lord's grasp and walked over towards the nearest forest exit.

The Doctor hurried after me. He started to walk in step with me once he caught up. "Are you sure you're ready for this, Krystal? It's not too late to turn back now. My offer still stands. You can pick the next place we go."

I shook my head. "No, Doctor. No going back now. I need to know about my people. I've got to."

Together we walked until we finally made our way out of the Silver Forest. Overhead the two suns had already met in the middle of the pinkish red sky, telling me that it was about noonish. Here on Chroma, one of the things that we kept from the Humans was their time system. Another was their languages, but I'll get into that later. We have twenty-four hours in a day and seven days a week. There are still twelve months in a year, but the names are a bit different. The easiest way to know what day it was was to just look up at the sky. Each day of the week had a different sky color. With today's sky being pinkish red that meant today was Thursday.

The other things, like I already mentioned, we kept from our Human heritage was their languages. Our language, which we called Lore, is basically a combination of every single language that ever existed on Earth. When we Colorians speak, well spoke now, to each other, each sentence would have basically a word from different languages. French, Spanish, and German could all be in one sentence. Because we were able to speak every language too, we're also able to put on each country's accents. Right now I could easily switch to a French one if I wished to. I won't switch accents, though, because it sounds better if I sound like I'm British like Rose, and apparently the Doctor.

And no, I haven't been talking in Lore the past twenty years and the TARDIS is definitely not translating for me now for others. I've been speaking just plain old Earth English.

Confusion, isn't it?

The Doctor and I were about halfway towards the City when I realized how quiet it had been the past couple minutes. No questions whatsoever. I looked back over my shoulder and blinked when I discovered something. It seemed as if we were missing a certain blonde Human.

I tugged at the Doctor's jacket sleeve and pointed behind us when he gave me raised eyebrows. "Where's Rose?"

The Time Lord looked back in surprise at the empty space that we had believed Rose had been occupying for the past whatever minutes. He looked back at me after a moment. "No idea."

"You're kidding me," I stated, blinking up at him. "You've lost your own companion?"

His eyebrows scrunched together. "Yeah…so it seems. Why am I always losing them?" he murmured.

"You've lost companions before?!"

Why does that surprise me?

"Well…once or twice."

"Once or twice?" I exclaimed. The Doctor glanced away and ran a hand through his brown hair. "How the bloody hell do you even lose a companion in the first place?!"

"They always come back in the end!" he told me. The two of us had stopped in the middle of the road and were having a staring contest with the other. We looked quite ridiculous.

I finally broke the contact by sighing and rubbing my eyes. "We sound like a bloody married couple…and we're making all of your companions sound like lost pets."

He laughed. "Yeah. We are, aren't we?" The Doctor grabbed my hand and began to pull me forward. "Come on, Krysty!"

"Krystal…and don't you wish to go back and find Rose?" I asked him. I had to run just to keep up with his long strides.

"Oh, she'll be fine. She's just in the Silver Forest with the TARDIS, is all."

"But the forest animals won't recognize her, Doctor," I tried to warn him.

"Krystal." The Time Lord stopped pulling and looked back at me. "All the animals would've died from the Impossible. You, me, and Rose are the only living beings here right now."

I looked away from him. After a few seconds of an awkward silence, the Doctor started to pull me forward with him again. After another few minutes of silence between us, we finally made it to the City.

And it was utterly horrible.

The two of us slowly walked down the street, glancing around at everything surrounding us. Houses and shops we passed were dark, some even boarded up. Rotten food littered different parts of the street. I had to cover my nose with my free hand just to lessen the stench. There weren't any dead bodies nor skeletons lying in the street, which was slightly odd. They may've all been in Quarantine, but I wasn't exactly sure. I glanced up at the Doctor to see what he was thinking, but I saw him staring intensely out of the corner of his eye and at the huge white building that we were just about to pass.

"No!" I told him, already knowing what he was going to say. "Bloody hell no!"

"Come on," he said while dragging me over to the building. "Let's go inside."

"Let's not, but pretend we did, Doctor," I replied back. I tried pulling him back, but he wouldn't move. He was quite strong for such a skinny guy. "I hate you," I whispered to him the closer we got.

"No you don't," he said back.

"Yes, Doctor, I do."

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p'.

We entered the building, which just happened to be the hospital, and I gripped the Doctor's arm tightly with both hands. Without a word, he led us forward and down the white hall. There wasn't much on the first floor, just a bunch of empty hospital rooms, but on the second floor were the Quarantine containers. The only difference between these containers and the ones at the New Earth hospital was the fact that these ones were much bigger. Each container could hold up to at least ten people.

The Doctor pulled out of my grip. I gave a small whine, but he ignored me as he pulled out his glasses and placed them onto his face. He went to one of the containers and crossed his arms over his chest. "Krystal, come here," he said.

I moved over to his side. "Yeah?" I asked softly.

"Every victim who caught the Impossible was put in these Quarantine containers, correct?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. As soon as you caught the Impossible, you were forced to come here for the safety of everyone else. Unfortunately though, once you caught the disease, you were stuck with it. Anyone who died inside of Quarantine could never be moved from Quarantine because if you touched one infected with the Impossible, even when dead, you became infected. No bodies could ever have a proper burial, but none of the bodies could ever rot either because the Quarantine containers kept your body preserved. Why do you ask?"

The Doctor brought his face close to the green glass and cupped his hands around his eyes. He squinted into the Quarantine container. "Curiosity," he replied.

"Be careful!" I exclaimed. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "I don't need you catching the Impossible, too."

"Krystal," he said, going back to peering inside of the container. "The Impossible died the moment the last Colorian did. Without any more bodies for it to pass on to, it couldn't survive any longer."

"Oh," I said softly. After a moment I then asked, "What are you doing again?"

"Are you positive this is where Colorians were placed when they caught the Impossible?"

"Yeah…"

"Then we've got trouble," he murmured. He pulled away and looked at me. "If no one dared take out the bodies from Quarantine, then where are all the bodies?"

I blinked. "What?" I moved over next to him and peered inside. It was hard to see because it was all a blur, but I couldn't see any forms that could be Colorian bodies anywhere. I pulled back with sonic yellow eyes. "Where is everyone, Doctor?"

As if on cue, my E.T.L. started buzzing like crazy. I hissed when it began to burn my skin as well. Both our eyes snapped down to the device on my wrist. I slowly brought it up to eye level and tapped it a few times.

"I don't like that look you've got," he told me whilst taking off his glasses. He placed them back in his inner jacket pocket.

"This is impossible," I breathed. I tapped it harder, but it just continued to buzz and burn me.

"What is?"

I locked eyes with him. "My E.T.L. isn't meant to go off on Chroma. It doesn't ever go off when I'm around others of my species."

"What about because of Rose or me?" he asked.

I shook my head. "I've programmed it not to go off from Humans because I lived with them for twenty years, and it'll only go off for you now whenever you let off any Regeneration energy, Doctor."

"You think there are other aliens on this planet?" he quietly asked.

"My E.T.L. doesn't lie, Doctor," I told him. I looked back at the Quarantine container. "And by the looks of it," I growled. "They apparently aren't friendly. Someone's stolen my people and they are gonna pay. I want them back."

And then, at the exact same moment, we both turned to the other. "Rose!" we shouted. The Doctor immediately dashed back down the hall. I ran after him. When we got to the steps, he took two down at a time while I just took the easier way and slid down using the railing. Once on the first floor again, we bolted together down the long corridors and out of the hospital double doors.

We ran as fast as we possibly could down the City streets until we finally were out of the City itself. We ran for several minutes, my E.T.L. growing louder the closer we got to the Silver Forest. The Doctor's strides seemed to grow even longer the closer we got. I could barely breathe just trying to keep up with him.

"Slow down, Doctor!" I yelled at him.

"Rose might be in trouble, Krystal!" he hollered back.

"This is why you shouldn't lose your companions in the first place!"

As soon as we entered the Silver Forest, I tripped over a random tree branch in the middle of the path. I gasped as I fell to my knees, but the Doctor didn't seem to notice my fall since he continued to run. I sighed and slowly rose to my feet. I brought my hands to my face and swore when I saw that the gloves had ripped and now looked horrible. With another sigh, I pulled the gloves off and tucked them into my jacket pockets. I slowly stumbled to my feet and jogged towards the direction of where the TARDIS was parked.

The Doctor was nowhere in sight when I got back to the TARDIS. I glanced around for him for a few seconds before an idea hit me. I jumped onto the nearest tree and slowly started to ascend up, carefully checking each branch before grabbing it or placing my foot on it. Once at the top, I held onto the branch above me tightly with one hand and looked out around me.

"Krystal?" the Doctor called.

"Up here, Doctor!" I yelled down to him. I looked down at him as he looked up at me. We both blinked at the other.

"What are you doing up there?"

"I'm enjoying the view – what do you think I'm doing, genius?!" I rolled my eyes and continued to look around the forest.

"Do you see anything?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Nothing. Just treetops." My E.T.L. continued to burn me, now worse than ever, and I instantly climbed back down the tree. On the very last branch, I hopped down and landed in a crouch next to the Time Lord. I looked up at him. "Sorry, Doctor."

The Doctor didn't say anything as he ran a hand repeatedly through his hair, causing it to grow messier and messier. Finally he spun on his heel and dashed to the TARDIS. He pulled open the doors and rushed inside. I slowly followed after him and found the Time Lord messing about the control console.

"Anything I can do to help you, Doctor?" I asked him softly.

"Just keep a lookout outside!" he ordered angrily. I flinched at the anger in his voice which was being misdirected towards me. He sighed and rubbed his temples. "Please, Krystal."

I nodded. "Yeah. Whatever you say."

I stepped back out of the TARDIS and began to pace in front of it. I grew distracted in my thoughts of where Rose was, but I made sure to keep an eye on the inside of the TARDIS and on the Doctor. As soon as I turned around for the umpteenth time, I found a gun aimed at my forehead. My eyes widened and turned yellow. The last thing I remember yelling, though, before the person pounded the butt of the gun against my head and knocked me out, was 'Doctor!'

* * *

**Here was the first non-episode chapter. What did you think of it? Review please and let me know.**


	10. Chapter 9: Colorian Mood Gems

"My head," I groaned. I brought a hand up and gently prodded the bump on the top of my noggin where I had been bashed with the butt of the gun. "Why are people always trying to knock me out?"

I slowly rose up into a sitting position. I pulled my legs up to my chest and glanced around at my surroundings. I was in a cell. A cold, dark cell. There wasn't even a bed, though even if there was one there wouldn't be any room for it. The cell was only large enough for me to sit or lie down in it. Even sitting up straight was uncomfortable since my head kept banging against the top of the cell.

I brought my hands up and wrapped them around the bars before me. I shook them harshly in hopes of successfully loosening one or two. No such luck. With an angry growl, I narrowed my eyes and shook harder.

"Let me out!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "Let me out of this bloody cell!"

"Oh, my," a female voice spoke in a gravelly voice.

"Does the little Colorian want out of her cell?" another voice, more gravelly and rougher than the first, asked.

My eyes glowed red. "I know that type of voice. Show yourself, Golems!"

Two figures stepped forward, both humanoid in shape, but covered from head to toe in rocks and stones. One was slightly taller and had a male build while the other had more of a feminine one. Their skin was a light grey color, with a bit of dark brown mixed in, and both were bald. Their eyes glowed a bright silver color and turned transparent every few minutes. Every step they took towards my cell sounded of when someone would walk across rocks, causing the stone to bang against the others. Even their clothes, a suit for the man and a dress for the woman, were made entirely from rocks.

"Welcome aboard my ship, Colorian," the male Golem told me. He smiled at me, showing his sharp, pointy rock teeth. "My name is Gravelstone," he said. "And this is my lovely mate Stonesetta." He pulled his mate close and kissed her head after introducing her. I rolled my eyes. PDA much?

"What a pleasure," I sarcastically spat. "Now, what do you want from me?"

"What Golems have always wanted," Stonesetta giggled. "That dazzling rock upon your skinny fleshy neck, darling."

I protectively grabbed at my choker. "Is that why all the Colorian bodies are missing from Chroma?"

"Of course," Gravelstone answered. "After Stonesetta and I discovered that we were unable to take off the chokers, we were forced to bring them all onto our ship. We studied them in hopes of finding out why we were unfortunate in removing the chokers."

"Apparently the only way to take them off is if a Colorian were to do it," Stonesetta added.

"Just what were we to do?" Gravelstone asked with a feigned upset look upon his face. "Every Colorian was dead."

They both then smiled at the other before returning their attention to me. "Just imagine our surprise, though, when our scans suddenly picked up traces of a living, breathing Colorian," Stonesetta chuckled. "We're not sure how you did it, but you just popped up out of the blue. Tell us, darling, where have you been hiding the past couple months?"

"What have you done with my friends?" I growled instead.

"Oh, you mean the non-Colorians?" Gravelstone asked. "They're in cells. Like yourself."

"If you harm even one hair on either of their heads…" I threatened.

The two Golems turned to the other again. This time they laughed loudly, shaking the room. "Don't be ridiculous child," Stonesetta told me once they calmed down. "They're the bait so you cooperate and do exactly what we say."

"Child?" I mumbled under my breath. "Do I really look like a child?"

"Just wait until you meet our son," Gravelstone told me. "Oh, Rocky! Come here a moment, would you? Come meet the nice Colorian!"

The floor shook as Rocky made his way to the room we were in.

* * *

**_Third Person P.O.V._**

"Doctor!" Rose shook the bars of her cell. She felt very uncomfortable ever since she awoke five minutes earlier. She just wanted out so she could stretch her back. "Krystal!"

The Time Lord's head suddenly popped out of nowhere, causing the blonde to shriek in surprise. The Doctor quickly put a hand through the cell bars and over top of Rose's mouth. Rose blinked at him, her chest rising and falling rapidly while her heart slowly returned to normal speed. After a moment she pushed his hand away from her mouth.

"Where are we?" Rose whispered.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the lock on her cell. It buzzed loudly before the lock clicked. He hurriedly pulled the door open and offered a hand to Rose.

"A spaceship," he answered once Rose took his hand. He pulled her up to her feet and immediately looked around. "You haven't seen Krystal anywhere, have you, Rose?"

The blonde Human shook her head. "I haven't seen anyone. I just woke up a few minutes ago."

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair for a few seconds before roughly grabbing Rose's hand and running off with her trailing along behind him. The two ran around the ship for several minutes until the Time Lord finally skidded to a halt when he heard voices coming from the room up ahead. He pulled Rose with him to the wall and both pressed their backs against the cold metal.

The Doctor peered around the side of the wall and into the room. He saw Krystal being carried by a huge alien made almost entirely out of rock. Two others aliens of the same species stood nearby with wide smirks on their faces.

"Let me go!" Krystal shouted at the alien holding her. Her eyes glowed bright red with fury as she pounded her fists against her holder's backside. It didn't even faze the giant alien. "Release me this bloody instant!"

Rose peeked over the Doctor's shoulder as the alien placed Krystal into some sort of leather seat. Instantly straps sprung from out of the chair and strapped the Colorian in place. Krystal pulled at her tight bonds, but none would budge. She could feel bruises forming on her arms and then instantly healing.

"What are they?" Rose whispered.

"Golems," the Time Lord replied.

The blonde Human's eyes widened and she looked at him. "Golems? I thought they were just stories?"

"And where do you think the stories came from?" The Doctor returned her look and arched a brow.

Rose re-brought her attention to the three Golems and the captive Colorian. "What are we going to do, Doctor?"

The Time Lord straightened up and threw his hands into his coat pockets. "Improvise," he told her. "Stay right here, Rose."

* * *

**_Krystal's P.O.V._**

"Ah! There you are, Krysty!" the Doctor's voice exclaimed. I glared at him for the use of the stupid nickname as he wandered slowly into the room with his hands in his pockets. The Golems all turned around in unison and stared at the cocky Time Lord. "I've been looking for you for ages! Rose and I have been worried sick. How dare you cause us to suffer like that. You should know better than any of us about emotions, Krysty." My glare hardened even more at the second use of the nickname. I would've been swearing at him – in German maybe – if weren't for the fact that I had a strap covering my mouth…he was doing this on purpose.

I hate you, Doctor. Really, I do. This is so not funny. I may just kill you later. Death by Colorian. Has a nice ring to it. Hopefully your new Regeneration is better than this one.

"How did you get out of your cell?!" Gravelstone demanded. The chair I sat in then suddenly shook as a needle came up and plunged itself into the middle of my chest, right where my heart was. I winced from the pain of the stab.

"J-J-Just hold on one second," the Time Lord told him, his words coming out in a rush.

Both Stonesetta and Gravelstone raised their rock eyebrows at him. "Who are you anyway?" the female Golem asked.

"I'm the Doctor," he told her calmly.

"Well, Doctor, my name is Gravelstone," Gravelstone introduced. "My mate Stonesetta" – Stonesetta waved in greeting at her name – "And our son Rocky who is our pride and joy." Gravelstone looked back at Rocky with a wide grin. "Come say hello, Son."

Rocky grunted in acknowledgement and began to move towards the Doctor. He reached out a gigantic hand for him, but the Time Lord easily ducked under his rock arms. Rocky slowly turned on his heel with a loud animal-like growl and began to go after the Doctor again.

"What do you want with Krystal?" the Doctor asked the two Golem parents. "Why hook her up like that?"

"Why, who else is going to get those beautiful chokers off of the dead Colorians?" Gravelstone asked.

Something seemed to click in the Doctor's head. "Colorian Mood Gems," he said slowly. "The rarest gemstones in the entire universe." He quickly ducked under Rocky's arms again when the Golem grew too close. He now stood before me. "Colorians created them years ago and started to place them into chokers for their young when they discovered that the gemstones reacted with their emotions. Once a choker is on a Colorian's neck, though, only a Colorian can take it off…which explains why you need Krystal."

"Such a nuisance, really," Gravelstone admitted. "But it does seem as if you've done your homework."

"Would you care for a medal?" Stonesetta sneered.

"Actually," the Time Lord began. The Doctor pulled out his sonic and casually threw it from one hand and to the other. "I'll just be taking the prize instead." With a cocky one-sided grin, he pointed his sonic at the chair that I was strapped in. A moment later the straps retracted and went back into the chair.

I jumped immediately to my feet. I glared over at the Time Lord as I crossed my arms over my chest. "I am no prize, Doctor."

"Most people say thank you after being rescued, Krysty."

"Krystal!" I shouted. "I was born with the bloody name Krystal!"

Gravelstone and his wife stared dumbfounded at the two of us. The male's eyes then slowly traveled down to the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. His mate blinked stupidly at us before turning to her husband. Rocky stood off beside his mum in silence glaring holes at the Doctor.

"How did you do that?" Gravelstone demanded.

The Doctor pocketed his sonic. "With a little thing I refer to as my sonic screwdriver."

I was half expecting him to say magic just for laughs. I probably would've.

"Where's Rose, Doctor?" I asked him after finally deciding to let up on trying to shoot daggers from my eyes at him.

"She's safe," he told me. That didn't exactly tell me much, but it was good to hear. "What about you, though?" he asked me, his voice sounding slightly concerned. "Have they hurt you?"

"Just the bloody needle to the arm, Doctor, but I'm used to needles so I'm fine."

"Good," he smiled. It then immediately turned into a hard frown when he turned his attention to the Golems. "And now to deal with the three of you." The Doctor looked into each Golem's eyes before continuing. "I'll give you one chance. Return the Colorians back to Chroma and leave this planet for good, promising never to return ever again.

Stonesetta scoffed as her husband exclaimed, "Not a chance! Golems do not listen to puny fleshlings!"

"Besides," Stonesetta added with a roll of her eyes. "We've come much too far to return home empty-handed.

"In the end, whatever happens, just remember: I warned you," the Doctor told them in a dark voice. "I gave you a chance to stop and leave."

"I believe you are the one who should be warned, Doctor," Stonesetta replied back, showing off her pointy teeth in a smirk.

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?!" I demanded. "You've lost, we've won. What's so complicated about that?"

"You said your name was Krystal, correct?" she asked me. I stayed quiet, instead choosing to just glare back in response. As she continued to smile creepily at me, I frowned and glanced over at the Doctor whose eyes were fixated on where I had had a needle jabbed into me. I raised my eyebrows at him in question.

Stonesetta's smile grew when I returned my attention to her. "I order you to confirm whether that is your name or not."

I gasped as I felt my back instantly straighten. My eyes locked with Stonesetta's as I answered back, against my will, "Yes. It is, ma'am."

"Krystal?" the Doctor murmured.

"Where have you been the past two months?" she asked.

I tried biting my tongue to stop myself from answering her, but it didn't work. "Earth."

"She lies," Gravelstone huffed. "There is no such planet called Earth. It was destroyed years ago."

"Time travel," I explained. What the bloody hell?! Why was I answering all of their questions? Somebody stop me now! Doctor!

"Oh, I know what you've done," the Doctor said. He then grew extremely angry. "Release her!"

"Make me," Stonesetta sneered. "Krystal," she then announced. Against my will my head turned to face the female Golem. Stonesetta smirked over at the Time Lord and pressed something in her hand. I screamed as a horrible electrifying shock reverberated through my body. It burned so badly, but I felt like I was losing control over my body like what had happened when Cassandra took over my body.

I felt helpless.

"Krystal, don't give in," the Doctor told me. He grabbed both of my shoulders. "Come on, stay with me. Look into my eyes."

"I'm sorry," I was able to whisper just before I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head.

* * *

**_Third Person P.O.V._**

The Time Lord slowly watched as Krystal's eyes turned white and slowly glazed over. Her head fell back and her body instantly went limp. The Doctor quickly dropped down in order to keep her from crashing to the floor. If it wasn't for the fact that he could feel her pulse, he would've thought that she was dead. He glowered over at the three Golems as the Colorian's body began to tremble in his arms.

A scream ripped its way from Krystal's mouth. The Time Lord instantly turned back to her and tightened the hold he had on her body. "Krystal," he said once she quieted down. "Krystal, wake up. You've got to fight it. Come on. Come back to Rose and me." When the Colorian didn't respond to his attempts, the Doctor turned his brown eyes up on the family of Golems. He glared. "Release her," he growled.

Stonesetta smiled. "You heard him, Krystal. Wakey-wakey."

The Colorian's eyes immediately snapped open at the Golem's demand. She stared blankly up at the Doctor and blinked a few times. Without even a word, her eyes hardened and she pushed him away from her. The Time Lord stumbled backwards as Krystal slowly rose to her feet.

"Restrain him," Gravelstone ordered her. "Wait, on second thought, just kill him."

"Certainly," Krystal answered in a monotone voice. She ran at the Doctor with glazed over red eyes. The Doctor didn't even try to evade the Colorian as she ran around him and grabbed both of his arms, forcing them behind his back. With a small grunt she pushed her knee into his lower backside and forced the Doctor onto the floor.

"Krystal, snap out of it," he told her as she pressed the side of his face against the floor. The Golems laughed at the sight before them, causing the room to shudder.

A gasp came from the direction of the corridor just before Rose ran into the room. "No! Stop it, Krystal!" Rocky instantly grabbed hold of her by the shirt and held her up in the air. Rose tried to squirm loose, but failed miserably.

"Krysty," the Doctor told her. "You don't wish to kill me. I know you don't."

"It's Krystal." The words slipped out so quietly out of the Colorian's mouth that the Doctor wasn't sure if she had actually said them.

"What did you say, Krysty?"

"My bloody name is Krystal," she growled. Krystal then gasped loudly and jolted back and away from the Doctor. She stared down at her hands as her eyes glowed brightly before glaring at the Doctor with glazed over eyes.

The Doctor rose to his feet. He gave her a raised eyebrow. "Is something wrong, Krysty?"

Krystal's eyes flashed back to bright red as she growled. "Stop with the nicknames!"

"Krys-Krysity-Kryst?" he grinned.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop, _STOP_!" she screamed at him.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" Rose asked. "You're just making her angry which is going to make things worse for you."

The Doctor ignored her and took a few steps closer to Krystal. "You're not angry, are you, Krysty?"

The Colorian growled and covered her ears. She shook her head back and forth. "Stop it, Doctor!"

"What are you doing?!" Stonesetta screamed at the Colorian. "Get him, Krystal!"

"Krysty, don't listen."

Krystal screamed and fell to her knees. With all eyes on him, the Doctor slowly made his way towards her and bent down to her height on the floor. The Colorian trembled and pushed her hands tighter against her ears. "Make it stop," she whimpered. "Please."

"Shh," the Doctor murmured. He gently removed her hands so he could instead place his own on her temples. Almost instantly, her eyes began to change between white and black. "I'll fix it."

"What are you doing?!" Stonesetta demanded.

"Kill him!" Gravelstone yelled.

"Doctor?" Rose called.

"Just give me a moment, Rose," he told her as his eyes closed. Krystal's breathing slowed down along with the Time Lord's and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. "All right, Krystal," he murmured. "I've started the process, only you can finish it."

"Get them, Rocky!" Gravelstone ordered.

The gigantic Golem dropped Rose to the floor. The blonde Human hurriedly got back to her feet as Rocky made his way towards the Doctor and Krystal. The Doctor ignored everyone around him except for the Colorian between his hands.

"Come on, Krysty, come on," he told her.

"My name is Krystal," the Colorian murmured.

"What did you say, Krysty?" the Doctor asked.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted as Rocky grew closer to the two.

Krystal's breathing stopped for a split second. The Doctor slowly pulled away from her and leaned back on his hands. The Colorian slumped forward and fell against his chest. The room grew eerily quiet as all eyes were on the two. Even Rocky had come to a hesitant stop.

Suddenly Krystal's head snapped up and she gasped. Her eyes were as wide as saucers while they turned back to normal. Krystal glanced all around the room before her blue orbs landed on the Doctor who smiled back at her. Without any hesitation, she instantly brought her hand up and slapped the Time Lord across the face.

* * *

**_Krystal's P.O.V._**

The Doctor placed a hand against the cheek that had been slapped. He turned back to me with a horrified expression on his face. "What was that for?!"

I pointed a finger at him sternly. "For calling me by that bloody nickname!" I brought a hand to my forehead. "Thanks for the headache by the way, Doctor," I murmured. "I'm just going to lie down for a teensy bit." I felt myself fall forward and land against the Doctor's shoulder.

The Time Lord wrapped an arm tightly around me and I felt him kiss the side of my head. "Welcome back, Krystal."

"Thanks," I breathed. I tiredly peered over his shoulder. "Oh no. We have a problem, Doctor."

"Huh?" The Time Lord stood up with me in his arms bridal style. My eyes kept flickering shut. I had to strain to keep them open. The Doctor turned us around and found Gravelstone standing before us with a gun pointed at our heads and his wife with a gun pointing at Rose's head. "Oh."

"Do something, Doctor," I muttered.

"Like drop you?" he asked back. I glared at him.

"Give us the Colorian, Doctor," Gravelstone growled. "Or I'll make sure your death is as painful as possible."

"Guns. It's always bloody guns," I murmured. "I _hate_ guns."

The Doctor frowned at the Golem. "As tempting as that sounds, I can't." I grinned in pride and stuck out my tongue at Gravelstone and his wife. "I've only been in this body for a day and I kind of like it the way it is." My tongue instantly went back in my mouth. I frowned. Wait a moment...

Gravelstone bared his teeth and shoved his gun against the Doctor's forehead. He growled deep in his throat in warning. "Give us the Colorian, Doctor, or else."

The Doctor calmly looked down at me, even though he had the gun pressed against his head. "I'm going to need to borrow your watch for a second, Krystal."

His brown eyes travelled down to my E.T.L. and he gestured towards it with his chin. I glanced at the alien locator. I had actually forgotten that I had it on, which was a bit strange since it was burning my skin and beeping loudly. I guess I had gotten caught up in everything else that was happening that I kinda forgot.

I tiredly lifted my arm up for him. "Sure, Doctor."

The Time Lord reached into his coat pocket. "I apologize in advance."

"What are you -?" both Gravelstone and I began. I then gasped and squeezed my eyes shut at the loud noise that was emitting from my wrist. The Doctor had used his sonic screwdriver to make my E.T.L.'s beeping much louder than it usually is. The burning increased as well.

I heard a few crashes and painfully cracked open an eye to see all three Golems with their hands covering their ears and the guns on the ground. Gravelstone was cursing under his breath while his wife shrieked.

"What's going on?" Rose asked. "What did you do?"

"Golems have extremely sensitive hearing," the Doctor explained. "But so do Colorians. We need to go now, Rose, before Krystal goes deaf." Rose nodded and ran out of the room. The Doctor tightened the one arm he had holding me before following after her.

In the hall we found Rose looking both ways with confusion written all over her face. The Doctor pulled his sonic away from my alien locator and pointed it at the door behind us. I sighed in relief when the beeping quieted down.

"That'll give us a bit of time, but not much," he said as the door slammed shut.

The blonde Human turned to face us. "Which way's the exit?"

I crossed my arms. "I'm not leaving until I find my people!" I exclaimed.

"We don't have time for that!" Rose argued. "They're surely kill us and re-capture you before we even find your people!"

I hung my head. She was right. And if I got re-captured, the Golems would win and be able to get my people's precious Mood Gems. All of my people were dead anyway...but the Mood Gems. I couldn't let the Golems get the Mood Gems, even if they had no way to take them off of the Colorian bodies. Colorians are a proud race. They'd rather die than allow another to take their Mood Gem.

I couldn't let the Golems keep the Colorian bodies _and_ the Mood Gems. I would be disrespecting my people if I didn't do something.

I know what to do.

"Go left."

"Are you sure?" Rose asked, but the Doctor had already started running in the direction that I had told him.

"Trust me, Rose," I said softly. "It's this way."

"Krystal," the Time Lord said in a warning tone.

"When I was younger, Doctor, a Golem ship crashed on Chroma. The Golem inside was dead, so my people buried the body and took the ship. It was inspected inside and out and reviewed until my people knew everything there was to know about the ship. The ship was then placed inside of the museum and there were tours every day to show everyone the ship in case any of us got kidnapped, like the three of us were. My friends and I took the tour once a month. Trust me. I know this ship inside and out."

The floor started to suddenly begin to shake. Both the Doctor and Rose stumbled. I fell out of the Time Lord's arms and crashed to the ground. I rolled a few times before slamming against the wall.

"Krystal, are you all right?" the Doctor asked.

I looked up at him and squinted. "Why are there three of you?" I then thought about what I said and quickly blinked a few times to clear my vision. I accepted the Time Lord's hand once I was able to distinguish which hand was actually his. He pulled me to my feet.

"You good now?" he asked in concern.

"Bloody brilliant," I replied. "Let's go."

I pulled out of the Doctor's grasp and led our party down the hall and towards where I knew the exit to be. When I knew we were extremely close to the exit, I came to a sudden halt. I felt the Doctor ram into me and then heard a soft curse as Rose slammed into the Doctor.

"Why'd we stop?" Rose asked as she stood up. "Is something wrong?"

I shook my head. "You two keep moving forward. You'll find the exit if you keep going straight. I have something I need to do first."

"What's that?" the blonde Human asked.

"I'm going to make sure that the Golems never follow after us," I murmured. "Don't follow me."

Without another word, I took a right and darted down the corridor. I didn't stop until I came to the very end of the hall where I had a door on my left and one on my right. I closed my eyes and quickly imagined myself when I was little and was touring the Golem ship. Left or right? I snapped my eyes open and reached out a hand towards the door on the left just as I heard running footsteps make their way towards me.

I had made the right choice. I slowly shut the door behind me with my foot while my eyes stayed glued on the silver metal box on the wall before me. My eyes fell to the floor as I walked up to the box.

I opened the metal box and stared at all of the colorful wires inside of it. I slowly breathed in and out so I could stay calm. I needed normal vision to figure this out. I had to figure out which wire was the correct one.

I jumped a few feet in the air when I heard the door begin to open. My vision changed to sonic yellow and I cursed aloud when all the wires looked the exact same color. I squeezed my eyes shut and reached out with a hand. I grasped all of the wires in the box and pulled. Each wire easily snapped off. I hesitantly opened my eyes and dropped all of the wires that I clenched.

Sparks flew from the box where the wires had been disconnected. I stared down at my empty palm and frowned. The hot wires had burned me severely, leaving my hand a black, charred mess. I carefully cradled my hand to my chest, but didn't worry too much about it. My hand would heal soon enough. It'll probably take a few hours at the most.

"What did you do, Krystal?!" the Doctor yelled. Overhead red lights were flashing and a loud siren was going off.

I slowly turned around and gazed into his brown eyes. I swallowed. "What I had to do." Without another word, I ran past him and towards the direction of the exit.

A moment passed before I heard the Time Lord running after me. "Krystal!" he hollered.

"Hurry up! We don't have time!" I yelled back. I could already feel tears start to slide down my cheeks.

"Krystal!"

I lengthened my leg stride which forced him to do the same. He soon caught up with me and gave me an angry look. I averted my eyes and instead just grabbed his jacket sleeve so we could run faster. We only had minutes before we were toast. Hopefully Rose was already waiting outside for us.

I unexpectedly got flung back with no warning whatsoever. I collided back with the Doctor and struggled against the arms he had around me. "Let me go, Doctor! We need to get out!"

"Tell me what you did, Krystal!" he angrily said.

My lower lip began to tremble and soon I was sobbing my eyes out. "I'm sorry, Doctor! So, so sorry! Really, I am!"

His voice grew soft. "Krystal."

"The ship's going to self-destruct, Doctor," I whispered. "It was the only way I knew of to keep the Golems away from my people and their Mood Gems."

Immediately the Doctor scooped me up in his arms and was running down the hall as fast as he could. When we got to where the exit should've been, we found Rose pacing. As soon as she spotted us, she ran over.

"Where's the exit, Krystal?" she asked.

I hurriedly wiped my eyes. "The wall. Just run through it."

Rose nodded and dashed through the metal wall in front of us. The Doctor followed silently behind her.

* * *

We were back in the TARDIS, narrowly getting away from the Golem ship after it had exploded. Rose immediately had said when we got back that she was tired and went to her room. Once she was gone, the Doctor and I had gotten into a huge argument. He had been upset that we could've possibly killed the Golem family. I on the other hand didn't really care. I was more upset that I had to destroy my people's bodies, even though they were already dead, just so the Golems could never get the Mood Gems. Besides, he had given the three Golems the chance to give up and leave on their own. It's not my fault that they declined.

Currently I was ignoring the Doctor as he leaned against the TARDIS control console and stared up at the ceiling. I was on the ramp by the door leaning against the pillar that had the Time Lord's jacket laying on it. My bad hand was in my lap while I doodled on my knee with my other.

After a few minutes I heard the Doctor sigh before he came over and sat down beside me. "I'm sorry, Krystal," he murmured. "Though it was wrong what you did, I understand. I completely understand."

"It's all right, Doctor," I replied whilst grabbing at the choker at my neck. I sighed and turned to look at him. "You know, I've never killed people before. I don't like it just as much as you do, but it had to be done. My people come first. The Mood Gems are too important to us. It's better for them to be destroyed than for someone else to have them."

"Oh, Krystal," he mumbled. He delicately took my bad hand and looked it over. "What am I to do with you?"

My eyes turned black from the skin contact. "Maybe, hopefully, wrap up my hand?"

He chuckled. "I guess I can do that. Come on."

* * *

**Whoo! Updated on my birthday! :D**

**Chapter started feeling rushed somewhere in the middle. I apologize for that. Still, let me know your thoughts.**

**Next chapter should be 'Tooth and Claw'**


	11. Chapter 10: Queen Victoria

"I should've known you'd be in here, Krystal," the Doctor laughed while walking into the room I was in.

I had been walking around the TARDIS half an hour ago, bored out of my mind with nothing to do. What was the point in being able to travel anywhere in time and space with a Time Lord and his Human when we didn't do anything? I had been looking for something to do when I stumbled across this room. It was a library…with a swimming pool. How many libraries do you know of that have swimming pools? Not many, I'm sure. Maybe even none.

Well, knowing that the Doctor wouldn't mind if I messed around on my own, I ran back to my bedroom, pulled on my pink and purple striped bikini with one shoulder strap, and darted back down to the library in my swimsuit. With a loud laugh, I dived straight into the pool and started doing laps around the perimeter of the pool.

I came up to the side of the pool and grinned up at the Doctor. He sat down Indian style in front of me and took off his jacket, tossing it behind him and onto one of the chairs by the shelves. In his lap he had a TARDIS blue towel, ready for me to use when I got out.

I folded my arms on the floor beside his feet as he smiled back down at me. "What can I say, Doctor. I like to read and swim, though maybe not at the exact same time. This place is like a little paradise for me. It's perfect."

"I'm glad this room makes you so happy." His brown orbs travelled down to my hand. He nodded towards it. "How's your hand?"

I lifted it palm up for him to inspect. "See for yourself." Water dripped off of my fingers and landed on his pants as the Time Lord gently grabbed my hand to examine it. My eyes instantly changed to black as he scooted closer so he could bring my hand to his face.

"It looks better," he told me. "Still a little burned, though."

"Give it an hour or two and it'll be all healed up," I told him. "The good thing is that it doesn't hurt anymore, though."

The Time Lord released my hand and I brought it back to me, dipping my fingers in the pool water. "Is there any possible way that you know of to help heal your hand faster?"

I pulled myself out of the pool and sat beside him, grabbing the blue towel from his lap. My feet still dangled in the water. "Well, I've discovered over the years that if I treat any of my wounds like you normally would, it helps it heal a lot faster," I explained. "Sleep also does wonders."

We both grew quiet. The Doctor lay back on the floor with his arms folded behind his head. He stared up at the ceiling with a distant look in his eyes and a blank expression on his face. I wrapped the towel tightly around my body and leaned back on my arms. I stared at the Doctor out of the corner of my eye as I lightly kicked my legs in the water.

After a few minutes, I asked, "So, where are we heading next, Doctor?"

"Interesting question," he replied. The Time Lord paused. "You know, I'm not sure. Haven't decided yet, actually."

"Do you ever plan where you take people, Doctor?"

"It's usually a spur of the moment thing," he told me truthfully.

I laughed at him. "Well, that's encouraging to know!"

The Time Lord pulled at his earlobe with a huge grin on his face.

* * *

A few hours later I sat on the jumpseat reading _A Tale of Two Cities _with the Doctor fiddling with the console controls. I'm not sure what Rose was doing since I couldn't exactly see her. After I had changed into some normal clothes (some dark jean shorts, a long-sleeved blue plaid button up shirt, my white gloves, and grey fedora with light blue stripes), I found the Doctor leaning against the wall beside my door with the book in his hands. He smiled at me when I exited my room and handed over the book, explaining that he noticed back at the Tyler's flat that I hadn't quite finished the book. He thought I may be interested in his copy in order to finally finish the book. I grinned back at him, grabbed the book, and thanked him with a quick kiss to his forehead.

"What do you think of this? Will it do?" Rose stood up straight from behind the console and showed off her outfit. It was basically a mauve shirt underneath a dungaree denim short dress. Plain black tights covered both of her legs and black boots were on her feet.

The Doctor glanced up once at her before looking back at the device in his hands. I snorted quietly in laughter and turned the page of the book that the Doctor had given me.

"In the late 1970s, you'd be better off in a bin bag," the Time Lord told Rose. I snorted again.

The Doctor walked up to the console and pressed a button. "Hold on, listen to this."

Music played overhead. _Das ist gute, ce fantastique_.

I glanced up at the ceiling and cocked an eyebrow. "What music is that? I've never heard of this song before."

"Ian Pury and the Blockheads," he explained. "Number one in 1979."

"That explains it," I mumbled. "I came to Earth during the 1980s."

The Doctor pushed my feet off of the console and then reached for the controls. Rose followed him while laughing. "You're a punk! That's what you are."

The Time Lord paid her no attention since he was singing to himself. "It's good to be a lunatic."

"A big old punk with a bit of...rockabilly thrown in," Rose added as an afterthought.

I laughed. "Rockabilly?"

"Want to go see him?" the Doctor asked.

"How do you mean, in concert?" Rose asked in surprise.

The two of them circled the console. They grinned at the other. "What else is a TARDIS for?" the Doctor asked. "I can take you and Krysty-"

"Krystal," I muttered.

"-to the Battle of Trafalgar," he said, ignoring me. "the First Antigravity Olympics, Caesar crossing the Rubicon, or Ian Dury at the top rank, Sheffield, England, Earth, 21st November 1979, what do you think?"

Rose's grin grew. "Sheffield it is."

The Doctor glanced over at me with raised eyebrows."Krysty?"

I sighed and placed down my book. I was finished with it and now was bored out of my mind. "It's Krystal," I glared at him. I then shrugged and brought my feet back up onto the console. "And I don't care where we go as long as we go somewhere. My book is done and I'm just now officially bored."

"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" he said. The Doctor placed a hand on one of the console's levers. He grinned over at us. "Hold on tight," and he pulled the lever down. I dropped my book and quickly clenched the sides of the jumpseat.

Both the Doctor and Rose fell against the console as the TARDIS rocked about. My eyes widened while my fingers dug deep into the seat. The bumpiness of the TARDIS ride is probably the one thing I will never get used to no matter how long I travel with the Doctor. I never quite had really good balance. Even when I walked I felt off-centered. As wonderful as the blue police box was the ride to and from somewhere is just one big nightmare. What I need to start doing from now on is learn to sit on the floor whenever I noticed the Time Lord get within a foot of the console. It would make my life so much easier...and less painful.

_Hit me with your rhythm stick. Hit me, hit me_, the song went.

Well. Doesn't that just fit the situation perfectly?

_Das ist gute ce fantastique_.

I covered my ears. The music was loud and annoying. It was really hurting my eardrums. Plus, I just didn't like the song. Sorry, Doctor.

The music then suddenly stopped playing. The TARDIS lurched forward with absolutely no warning and we all fell to the floor. The Doctor and Rose started to laugh as soon as their backs smacked against the grating. I slowly rose into a sitting position with my hands stretched out behind me to keep me up. I blinked at them and gave the two of them an incredulous look. How was the situation funny? Pain was supposed to _hurt_ you.

The Doctor jumped to his feet. "1979! Hell of a year." He pulled Rose to her feet and then me before dashing over to the ramp and down to the doors. I stretched my back and heard it crack a little bit. "China invades Vietnam, _The Muppet Movie_ - love that film."

I took my time walking over to him while Rose just jogged to him. "The _what_ movie?"

He blinked at me. "You've never seen that movie? You poor neglected child." I rolled my eyes. "Anyway," the Doctor continued. He grabbed his trench coat and started to pull it onto his body. "Margaret Thatcher, urgh." His face turned to one of disgust. Rose and I both grinned at his expression. "Skylab falls to Earth, with a little help from me. Nearly took off my thumb." The three of us stepped out of the TARDIS, one right after the other. Being last, like always, I was the one to close the doors. Unconsciously, I lightly patted one of the doors with a small smile. "And I like my thumb, I need my thumb, I'm very attached to..." The Time Lord trailed off when a pistol was cocked and aimed at us.

I sighed loudly and raised my hands in the air. "Joy."

The Doctor raised his hands up too slowly along with Rose while finishing his sentence. "...my thumb."

Other guns, rifles, were cocked at us by men in red uniforms. The Doctor stared up at the one man who was before us. He sat up on his horse and kept his pistol steadily on us.

"1879," the Doctor realized. "Same difference."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?!" I hissed. "How is 1879 the same as 1979 in any way whatsoever?"

"You will explain your presence," the soldier up on the horse ordered the Doctor. "And the nakedness of these girls."

I snorted. We were in 1879 for roughly two minutes and already I don't like it the time period.

"Are we in Scotland?" the Doctor asked. A corner of my lips pulled up when his voice rose an octave.

"How can you be ignorant of that?" the soldier demanded.

The Doctor suddenly gained a Scottish accent. It actually wasn't that bad. "Oh, I'm - I'm dazed and confused. I've been chasing these - these wee naked children over hill and over dale." He gestured over at Rose and me with his head. He then looked over at us. "Isn't that right, you timorous beasties?"

I instantly turned my English accent into a Scottish one. It was as easy as flicking a switch. I glared over at the Doctor. "Who you callin' a timorous beastie?" The Doctor's eyes locked with mine for a quick second. I saw one of his eyebrows move upward before he turned back to the soldier on the horse.

Apparently since the Doctor and I had put on Scottish accents, Rose thought it would be a good idea to put one on as well to blend in.

"Och, aye," she said. The Time Lord and I slowly glanced over at her. "We've been oot and aboot."

The accent was horrible. She was a disgrace to all the people of Scotland.

"Don't hurt yourself, Rose," I muttered.

At the same time the Doctor said to her, "No, don't do that."

Rose looked at us. She blinked. "Hoots mon."

I slowly shook my head in warning. "No, really, don't. Really," the Doctor told her.

"Will you identify yourself, sir?" the soldier said, addressing the Time Lord.

The three of us turned back to the head soldier. "I'm Doctor James McCrimmon. From the...township of Balamory," the Doctor told him. "Uh, I have my credentials, if I may." Rose and I both lowered our arms as the Doctor reached into his jacket pockets. He pulled out his psychic paper and flipped it open for the soldier to view. "As you can see, a doctorate from the University of Edinburgh." He showed the psychic paper around so the rest of the soldiers could see it too." I trained under Dr. Bell himself."

"Let them approach," an elderly woman stated.

I glanced around for the source of the voice and then noticed the black carriage that the soldier on the horse was hiding from view. That voice sounded familiar. Who was she? Obviously someone important if she had a bunch of soldiers guarding her.

"I don't think that's wise, ma'am," the head soldier answered.

"Let them approach," the woman repeated.

The soldier looked as if he wished to argue more with the mysterious woman, but he decided against it in the end. With a look that showed he wholeheartedly disapproved, he told the three of us, "You will approach the carriage and show all due deference." Now I really wanted to know who this brilliant woman was. With a smile, the Doctor gestured for us to follow him. He gave the soldier a quick two finger salute before leading the way over to the black carriage.

A man opened the closest carriage door when we approached it. Once we were near enough, the three of us looked in at the woman who had spoken. She stared back at us. I grinned, instantly recognizing the famous woman.

The Doctor turned to us and gave a wide smile. "Rose, Krystal, might I introduce her majesty, Queen Victoria, empress of India and defender of the faith."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," I said while bowing my head in respect. "What an honor. Truly it is. My name is Krystal."

"Rose Tyler, ma'am," Rose introduced herself. "And our apologies for being so naked."

"I've had five daughters," the queen told us. "It is nothing to me. But you, Doctor, show me these credentials." The Doctor handed over his psychic paper to Queen Victoria. She inspected it closely. "Why didn't you say so immediately?" she said to him. One of my eyebrows rose up curiously. "It states clearly here that you have been appointed by the Lord Provost as my protector."

"Does it?" the Time Lord asked surprised. He then regained his composure before Queen Victoria noticed. "Yes, it does. Good, good. Um - then, let me ask - why is your majesty traveling by road when there's a train all the way to Aberdeen?"

"A tree on the line," she answered.

That perked my interest. "An accident?" I asked.

Queen Victoria's eyes traveled up to my face. "I am the queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Everything around me tends to be planned."

"An assassination attempt?" the Doctor asked.

"What, seriously, there's people out to kill you?" Rose said in shock. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm quite used to staring down the barrel of a gun," she replied.

"Sir Robert MacLeish lives but ten miles hence." The Doctor, Rose, and I all turned around and looked up at the soldier on the horse who spoke. "We've sent word ahead. He'll shelter us for tonight, then we can reach Balmoral tomorrow."

"The Doctor and his timorous beasties will come with us," the queen told him.

I softly sighed and stepped on the Doctor's foot hard. His face scrunched up in pain for a brief second. He glanced down at me in question when I brought my foot back. I glared back in response. Queen Victoria referred to Rose and I as "timorous beasties". I was definitely going to kill the Doctor for that name when this was all over.

"Yes, ma'am," the soldier said. "We'd better get moving. It's almost nightfall."

"Indeed," Queen Victoria stated. "And there are stories of wolves in these parts, fanciful tales intended to scare the children, but good for the blood, I think."

That got my attention. I snapped my eyes back over at Queen Victoria at the mention of wolves. The greatest creatures in all of existence. We had several wolf packs back on Chroma. Like dogs are a man's best friend, wolves are a Colorian's. I was friends with a wolf back when I was a child. He was the greatest years of my life. He protected me from everything. He was absolutely my best friend. No questions about it.

The queen turned towards where her driver sat. "Drive on," she ordered him.

The door shut and the carriage started rolling forward. All of Queen Victoria's soldiers followed on either side of it. The Doctor and Rose began to walk along together behind the carriage. I trailed after them with the biggest smile on my face.

"It's funny, though," Rose stated. "'Cause you say 'assassination', and you just think of Kennedy and stuff, not her."

"1879 - she's had, ohh - six attempts on her life?" the Doctor said. "And I'll tell you something else - we just met Queen Victoria." H

Rose grabbed his arm excitedly. "I know!"

"What a laugh!"

The two of them were beginning to sound like some fangirls. They were both just so giddy with excitement. Then again, that's how I've been feeling ever since the queen told us about the wolves.

"She was just sitting there," Rose said.

"Like a stamp," the Time Lord added.

"I want her to say, 'we are not amused.' I bet you 5 quid I can make her say it," Rose told him.

"Well, if I gambled on that, it'd be an abuse of my privilege as a traveler in time," the Doctor said whilst stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"10 quid?"

"Done."

I rolled my eyes and just shook my head. Nope. I'm mistaken. They're even worse than me. I'd never bet, especially on something so stupid. I hope Rose doesn't go overboard with trying to get Queen Victoria to say that. I don't wish to be shot for annoying the queen with idiocy.

* * *

We all finally arrived before a giant manor. Even though the sun was out and it was a beautiful day, the house held a small bit of creepiness to it. I had a really bad feeling just looking up at it.

The carriage pulled to a halt before the front door. The driver climbed out of his seat and opened the queen's door. He held a hand out for her to take. Queen Victoria accepted the hand held before her and stepped out. A small smile was upon her face as she looked up at the house.

A handsome man with dark hair stepped forth from the house. He made his way up to the queen. I admit that it was a little hard not to stare at him He was quite cute.

"Your majesty," the man said to the queen. He gave her a bow.

"Sir Robert," Queen Victoria replied. Robert came up out of his bow. "My apologies for the emergency. And how is Lady Isobel?"

I cursed under my breath, causing the Doctor and Rose to glance at me funnily. Of course the man had a wife. Of course! Just my luck. Why were all the decent men taken?

"She's...indisposed, I'm afraid," Robert answered. "She's gone to Edinburgh for the season. And she's taken the cook with her. The kitchens are...barely stocked. I wouldn't blame your majesty if you wanted to ride on."

I rose up onto my tiptoes and leaned in close to the Doctor's ear. He bent down slightly to hear what it was I had to say. With my hand hiding my mouth, I murmured, "Is it just me, or is that man trying to persuade us to leave? He sounds like he's hiding something."

"Oh, not at all," the queen told him. "I've had quite enough carriage exercise, and this is...charming, if rustic. It's my first visit to this house. My late husband spoke of it often. The Torchwood Estate."

The Doctor stood back up straight and lowered back down to the ground. My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. Torchwood? Where have I heard that word before? I softly groaned and rapped my knuckles against my temples in frustration. The Doctor gave me an interesting look.

"Now, shall we go inside?" Queen Victoria asked. "And please excuse the naked girls."

Robert's head turned towards where Rose and I stood. I crossed my arms awkwardly over my chest as he looked us over. I looked worse than Rose when it came to being 'naked'. My clothes didn't cover my skin as well as Rose's did. While her arms may have been showing, everyone had a nice view of my legs.

I mumbled along with the blonde Human, "Sorry."

"They're feral children," the Doctor explained. "I bought them for sixpence in Old London Town. It was them or the Elephant Man, so..."

"Thinks he's funny," Rose said. Her voice then grew serious. "But I'm so not amused." I rolled my eyes at her pathetic attempt of getting the Queen of England to say that phrase. "What do you think, ma'am?"

"It hardly matters," she replied. The queen then turned back to Sir Robert. I quietly snickered at Rose with a hand covering my mouth. "Shall we proceed?"

Rose turned to the Doctor and me as everyone else began to walk inside. "So close."

I snorted again, this time loud enough for her to hear. "Not even, Rose."

"Mackeson and Ramsey, you will escort the property," the soldier who had earlier pointed the first gun at us told the two men "Hurry up."

"Yes, sir," both men answered.

The Doctor, Rose, and I all watched as one of the soldiers stepped towards the carriage. When he turned, we saw that he was holding a box which he took with him inside the manor. The other soldier followed after him.

"So, what's in there, then?" the Doctor asked the remaining soldiers in his Scottish accent.

"Property of the crown," the lead soldier told him. "You will dismiss any further thoughts, sir." The Doctor looked at Rose and me with the face of a young child who had just been scolded. I huffed and rolled my eyes. The soldier didn't have be so mean about it. "The rest of you, go to the rear of the house. Assume your designated positions," he told his fellow soldiers.

"You heard the orders," one said as all of them began to move. "Positions."

"Sir."

The Doctor and Rose made their way into the house. I began to follow them, but I paused when I saw the plaque on the side of the manor. I gave the plaque a strange look. It read 'Torchwood'. I racked my brain for a moment on where I had heard the word before. I still couldn't remember. I reached out a hand hesitantly and lightly touched it. A chill ran instantly down my spine and I quickly pulled back and blinked in surprise.

My head cocked slightly to the side as I placed my fingers back on the plaque. Nothing happened this time.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," I murmured before darting inside.

* * *

Sorry it's been so long. I mainly updated this story because of the brilliant new episodes of Doctor Who that have been airing this month. Not the best chapter, sorry. Not the biggest fan of this episode.


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